In recent decades, economic liberalization policies were installed strongly in Latin America, also in a sector as sensitive as health. Under the promise of efficiency, innovation and free choice, reforms oriented to deregulate markets were promoted, introduce patents in the pharmaceutical field and progressively privatize the financing and provision of health services. The result was a structural transformation that today exhibits its fissures.
In the pharmaceutical sector, the end of state control over prices resulted in sustained increases, affecting access to essential medicines. To this was added the withdrawal of tariffs and new regulations on intellectual property, which pushed numerous national industries – in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – to abandon local production to become licentiates of multinational laboratories. This not only implied loss of productive sovereignty, but also a setback in research, development and technological autonomy.
On the other hand, the deregulation of medical services encouraged the migration of public sector to private professionals, increasing the costs of the system and weakening the capacity of response of the State. Market logic promoted overcoming, induced consumption and supply concentration in areas of greater profitability, leaving unattended territories and pathologies of low commercial demand.
The most visible consequence of these transformations has been the sharp process of fragmentation and inequality: a dual health system, where access and quality depend more and more on the patient’s ability to pay.
In the current Argentine socioeconomic context – a persistent recession, increased poverty, state retraction and greater informality – this model becomes unsustainable. It is not about returning to statist schemes, but about rethinking regulation from a strategic approach, which combines efficiency with equity.
Health cannot continue to be governed by market rules without serious social consequences. It is time to recognize that rights are not sold: they are guaranteed.
Carlos Felice
E-mail: [email protected]
Instagram: @carlosdfelice
by contentnoticias
