Laura (34) calls her ophthalmologist's office to ask for an appointment.
She wears contact lenses and has been seeing him for more than a decade.
On the other side, the historical secretary asks her to verify if she still has it on the card.
“The doctor stopped working on some plans
,” explains the voice on the other end.
"But I've been a patient for years," says Laura.
“You can keep coming
privately
”, they answer her.
These situations are repeated more and more.
And, according to a survey carried out among doctors,
more than 35% reduced the number of shifts available for social and prepaid works
in the last year.
The reasons would be associated, at least in part, with the fees they receive when providing these services.
The information comes from a survey carried out on
845 doctors
by the Wiri Salud medical care platform.
From the work it can be seen that 68% indicated that
they should earn "at least double or more"
.
Meanwhile, 21% indicated that "the fees should be a little higher" while only 1% considered that "they are consistent with the service".
Of those surveyed, 11% stated that they did not work with obras sociales or prepaid.
34% said that they work more than 12 hours in the same day, which represents 4% more than the previous year.
Along these same lines, 52% of doctors referred to the workload as "very excessive", against 46% who had said the same in 2021.
68% of doctors indicated that they should earn “at least double or more”.
Photo Shutterstock.
“It is difficult to get shifts through the prepaid, especially in some specialties.
Consultation fees are usually low, around
2,000 pesos and payable in 60, 90 or even 120 days
”, warns Antonio Di Nanno, psychiatrist and assistant secretary of the Association of Private Activity Physicians (AMAP).
He says that as a counter to the situation of doctors is the offer of teleconsultations for patients that, according to Di Nanno, should not replace the visit to the professional.
"It also translates into a certain delay when it comes to getting appointments or even specialists who stop attending with certain social work," he details.
And it marks a break related to the pandemic.
“Health professionals were badly hit and
tolerance levels dropped
.
The love of medicine exists, but it seems to me that there is less and less room for the fees to not be consistent, ”adds the AMAP reference.
Diego Calvo, an obstetrician-gynecologist specializing in maternal-fetal health, says that different scientific societies, such as the Obstetrics and Gynecology Society of Buenos Aires (Sogiba), are working to update fees.
“
They increase slower than inflation
.
In many cases, multiple jobs
are used
, but it costs more and more to maintain an office ”, confirms Calvo.
He attends to prepaid and social works although he clarifies that his main work is oriented to the performance of ultrasound scans.
He says that there are expenses, such as the materials for performing the PAP, that he must transfer to his patients.
And he assures that he knows professionals who use
blue copayments
to support certain patients without losing money.
"In general, they tend to drop second-line prepaid companies that fall further behind with payments and are left only with renowned coverage," Calvo says.
In this sense, it stands out that patients complain because it becomes difficult to get an appointment or even because there are doctors who stop treating them.
The drama of being left without a doctor
That happened to Lorena Gutiérrez, Martina's mother (12), with her daughter's dentist.
“One day she told us that she was going to stop working with our prepaid.
She explained to us that she was unsustainable due to economic issues, ”says Lorena, who decided to continue with the treatment for her daughter in a private way.
Melisa Macaluso (37) was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at the age of 20 and, since then, has regularly checked her thyroid hormone levels with an endocrinologist.
However, since July of last year he could no longer see her because he stopped working with her prepaid.
"They notified me with an email that said that
the prepaid owed them more than four months of benefits
and that, for this reason, if I wanted to continue going I had to start paying for the private consultation, at that time of $ 2,000 + VAT," he shares with
Clarin
.
“I don't know how much it will be now but I do know that it is very difficult for me to get an appointment with another professional.
Due to high demand, there are
months of waiting
.
Thus, I am left without the prescriptions for Levothyroxine that I have to take every day ”, he comments.
Consulted by this newspaper, Claudio Belocopitt, president of the Argentine Health Union (UAS) and of Swiss Medical, says that "it is true that there are professionals who are no longer cared for by prepaid medicine companies or social works" although he points out that there are “others who are joining”.
“At Swiss Medical we are adding professionals every month”, he assures.
He confirms that in particular they will surely receive better fees, although he points out that there are professionals who opt for prepaid because
it continues to be a very important source of income for doctors
.
"It works for them and they have a guaranteed volume of patients," adds Belocopitt.
For the president of the UAS, the doctor's fees, like many other incomes of the health system,
should be improved
.
And he points out that there is "a major financing crisis" and that "measures must be taken so that the system becomes fairer and more balanced for all parties."
Specifically, it refers to the coverage of benefits linked "to school or the transport of people with some type of disability".
"The State would have to take charge of these expenses, not the health system," he remarks.
And he points out that there is still a long way to go on the use of high-cost medicines that, in some cases, prepaid companies must cover by court order.
Both Osde and Galen were consulted on this issue but preferred not to express themselves on the matter.
MG
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