The Case for Health Care and Medical Tourism in Argentina

A team of surgeons in Argentina where doctors are typically well-trained, confident & knowledgeable.

When most foreign journalists return home from a trip to Argentina, they often pen glowing reviews of their gastronomic conquests down south. Newsweek’s Howard Fineman is not one of those journalists.

On a recent visit to see his daughter, who currently lives in Argentina, Fineman had a nasty bout with food poisoning. The illness and his subsequent 3-day stay in a private hospital in Bariloche opened Fineman’s eyes to the cost and quality of care advantages for expats and foreign visitors in Argentina.

“My hospitalization included continuous intravenous fluids (to counter dehydration); IV antibiotics; an EKG, two blood tests and a chest X-ray; special meals; a private room; and even satellite-TV access to what seemed to be every obscure soccer match on the planet,” Fineman writes, “The doctors, nurses, aides, and others were all uniformly excellent. Total cost: about $1,500.”

Considering that similar treatment in the U.S. would have cost roughly $12,000, the NBC political analyst was impressed by both the quality of care (“The doctors were clearly well trained and knowledgeable, and inspired confidence with their touch of Argentine cockiness.”) and the resourcefulness he witnessed first-hand. (“Perhaps they can’t always afford the latest in technology, but they strike me as doctors who don’t dwell on technology for its own sake.”)

While most Argentine medical tourism coverage to date has focused exclusively on elective procedures in BA, InvestBA believes Fineman’s anecdote sheds important light on the non-elective, year-round quality care awaiting expats, transplants and foreign travelers in Argentina. (Full article)

Read more about Argentina lifestyle and quality of living in the new issue of InvestBA Privada.