Prepaid medicine companies have accumulated an increase of 350% in recent years, the sum calculated only in 2022 being 113%. The situation they are going through in terms of the exodus of affiliates is so serious due to their impossibility of continuing to face these increases, that the Superintendence of Services has just authorized a procedure to put a cap on them in 2023.
On the part of the users, the 14% who can still keep their private medical coverage, have to wait at least two months, in most cases, or even more, to be seen by a professional or to undergo a study . On the professional side, it is already common for them to charge low fees and with delays of months, in addition to working in some cases around 12 hours to survive.
This is a very acute problem in Latin America. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are 200 million people who do not have access to health. “If we include people who only have precarious or limited services, this number could rise to 400 million. We created Wiri Salud to bring access to health care to these people who cannot afford private medical coverage or who are treated in the public health system, which, as we already know, is collapsed,” he says. Mathias Sielecki, co-founder and CEO Wiri Salud.
Wiri Salud originates in the context of the emergence of the concept of “Health assurance”, an emerging and cutting-edge category of data-driven and consumer-focused health care services that are designed to lower costs of care. They are also built on the principles of open technology standards. It is the first platform in Argentina that enables access to quality medical care at affordable prices, which also has a presence in Mexico and Ecuador.
Medical professionals, also in crisis
Not only patients must suffer the consequences of this crisis in the health sector, it is also the professionals who cannot find a sustainable paradigm for the development of their specialty. According to a survey carried out by DrApp, 34% of doctors work more than 12 hours in a single day. It should be noted that this percentage has grown 4 percentage points in the last year. In the same survey, 52% of doctors referred to the workload as “very excessive”, while more than half of those surveyed have more than 20 years of experience in their specialty.
Regarding the fees received from funders (social and prepaid insurance), 68% indicated that the fees should be “at least double or more”, while only 1% of the doctors consider that the fees that he receives from these entities “are consistent with his provision and professional training.” For this reason, 35% of professionals indicate that they have reduced the number of shifts available for obras sociales and prepaid over the last 12 months.
“The difficulty in accessing health services affects the entire region, but in Argentina in particular this problem has deepened especially in the last two years. with the stratospheric increases in private medicine and the public health crisis. We believe that technology opens a new way for a person to make a consultation through a platform, have an appointment in less than 48 hours and pay only for what they use, with the possibility of contracting health insurance at affordable prices”, Sielecki concludes.