Health is a right available only to those who have money | What could happen if Javier Miley becomes president

Apart from the nuances in government proposals that candidate Javier Miley is testing for various areas, the reduction to the maximum of the functions of the state stands out as a transversal ideological gesture. The outlook for the future is bleak in a country like Argentina, where the health and lives of the population depend on government intervention. On its platform, leader La Libertad Avanza proposes to “tariff all medical benefits and self-manage healthcare services in common works with private healthcare.” In particular, if the national executive branch joins in, those who are unable to pay for private healthcare will not be able to enjoy one of the basic human rights. A person with diabetes without social work, according to current prices, must pay between 9,539 and 78,867 pesos per month to cover their treatment; someone with hypertension, 19,540 pesos per month; and whoever wants to, for example, fulfill all the vaccinations in the mandatory calendar, will have to pay 1,017,198 pesos.

If Miley becomes president after October, Health will be one of the many ministries that are deteriorating. According to his plans, he will become part of the Secretariat at the Ministry of Human Capital, and the one who wants to become his secretary at the helm is Eduardo Filgueira Lima. In various media statements, the doctor (UBA) always insists on two premises. On the one hand, this guarantees the inefficiency of medical institutions, and on the other hand, it encourages “that people can choose.” In Libertad y Progreso (Center for Public Policy Research website), based on a 2021 article, La Pampa’s former health minister pointed out: “Too much is being spent on our healthcare system (especially on the results we have), because much of this expenditure is wasted through the complexity and inefficiency of the system’s organizations, which privilege those who live off them rather than those who should serve.”

In response, he offers provincial health insurance with user’s free choice. Thus, people who have become clients can choose to receive assistance through prepaid or social work, and if they do not have the resources, do so with the help of the state. For this reason, in dialogue with Page 12minister Vizzotti states: “We are promoting a care network of varying levels of complexity in coordination with the provinces. With an approach like Milea’s, the health outlook will no longer be homogeneous and will depend on the budget, management and decisions of each individual. Guaranteed inequality in public policy and access”.

Later, when asked about the approach that defines health as a commodity, the official said: “It is very difficult to subordinate health to the laws of the market. If the role of the state changes depending on the offer and it begins to be guided according to demand, many asymmetries arise. If the ministry disappears, inequalities will arise and the solidarity that characterizes the health care system will disappear. He then highlights:This approach is nothing new, it was already in the United Kingdom during the time of Margaret Thatcher and failed. It is a system that has caused the medical teams of various institutions to compete with each other and lose focus on what health benefits mean for the health of all citizens.“.

Diseases with and without the state

through logistics recovery program, which distributes primary care medicines to more than 19 million people, the portfolio, led by Carla Vizzotti, develops various public policy instruments with the goal of providing treatment coverage to as many patients as possible. According to estimates based on prices updated on August 16, if a person with type 2 diabetes (which is approximately 90 per cent of cases) had to pay for their treatment at the market price without social security, they would have to pay between 9,539 and 78,867 pesos; and if i had Type 1 diabetes, at least 96,719 pesos must be allocated for medicines alone. It is estimated that 1 in 10 Argentines over the age of 18 suffer from diabetes, a chronic disease that accompanies patients throughout their lives.

With Remediar those who suffer today arterial hypertension they have access to state remedies which are equivalent to 19,540 pesos per month and 234,481 pesos per year. Similarly, the insurance coverage that is currently provided through the Ministry of Health for a person performing mental health is 21,016 pesos per month, which is equivalent to 252,194 pesos per year.

Through the Bank of Special Medicines Complementing Cancer Treatment, the healthcare portfolio covers a variety of treatments for cancer. A person with breast cancer has access to treatment regimens that will cost 68,252,485 pesos per year at market prices, one with colon cancer for initial treatment that costs 3,328,709 and 53,353,563 at a later stage, and with cancer lung at least 8,864,647 pesos per year. year. Figures that it would be difficult for a person to cover on their own in the absence of government intervention.

Something similar happens in the case vaccine which correspond to the mandatory calendar: it is estimated that the state allocates 1,017,198 pesos towards expenses, which is the total number of injections that a person must receive throughout his life. And also with the coverage that the Ministry currently provides for drug coverage for patients with HIV. It is estimated that per month (depending on the combination of drugs used) the cost can reach 504,946 pesos.

rare diseases (EPF) deserve a separate item and the Ministry of Health has a special Program for their care. At present, the treatment of cystic fibrosis will cost at retail prices 1,221,111 and 14,653,333 pesos per month and per year, respectively; for people with spinal muscular atrophy who are treated with nusinersen (Spinraza) 137,980,048 pesos per year, and for those treated with onasemnogen abeparvovec (Zolgensma), a coverage of 729,750,000 pesos is offered at a time.

“The Constitution obliges to provide medicines to the population, regardless of the sector to which a person belongs and the province in which he lives. It is not enough that the technology exists and that part of the population can finance it, it is vital that access is equitable. If you start to see health as an expenseinvestments in prevention and primary health care will be significantly reduced in achieving the goal of universal access,” says Vizzotti.

freedom has its price

The exorbitant prices for rare diseases are not the result of a journalist’s hallucination or a misunderstanding of readers. EPF is usually treated for the so-called expensive medicines. Since laboratories do not have an insured clientele, and in order to guarantee reimbursement of the costs of the research they have carried out, they attach incredible value to their products. Obviously, since there are no people who could bear these costs on their own, it is the States that ultimately face the problem of buying in processes that are often mediated by amparo remedies.

Medicines are commodities that are produced, distributed, and distributed like any other product. If they are governed only by the laws of supply and demand, then the most powerful players ultimately win: the corporations. And those who end up losing, as always: the most disadvantaged sectors. The delusion of freedom, which is hidden behind the slogan that “everyone does what he wants”, is precisely in this In today’s world, not everyone can do what they want.. On the contrary, only those who have the money for it can do this. If the state does not regulate inequality, the invisible hand of the market acts as it pleases. And he has a bad habit of always wanting the same thing.

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