Newcomer guide
Private healthcare
Private cover here is called a prepaga: a monthly plan you buy yourself, separate from the obra social that comes with a formal job and from the public hospitals that treat everyone. This guide covers what to check before signing, what companies ask a newcomer for, and where a complaint actually goes. Prices and plans change several times a year, so nothing here is a fixed figure.
Pásala is not a broker and takes nothing from any health company. Confirm every price, plan and requirement on the company's own page before you pay.
Three systems, and where a prepaga sits
Health here runs on three tracks at once. Public hospitals still treat every emergency, whatever your migration status, and City hospitals in Buenos Aires charge nothing at the counter. What changed: Decree 366/2025 and Resolución 1066/2026 mean that in hospitals run by the national government, routine, non urgent care for people who are not permanent residents is only given against health insurance or payment. Permanent residents keep the same access as Argentines. An obra social comes with a formal job, funded by payroll contributions. A prepaga is private cover you buy yourself, month by month, by plan and by age. This is exactly why many newcomers now sort out cover early instead of waiting.
- Save 107 for SAME ambulances, whatever cover you end up with
- Locate your nearest public hospital guardia today
- Carry proof of health insurance if you are not a permanent resident yet
- If you have a formal job, ask HR which obra social you were signed into
Emergencies are the exception written into the rule: they cannot be refused or restricted for anyone. The charge applies to routine care in national hospitals, and several provinces charge non residents too.
Check the company is registered first
Every legitimate prepaga is listed in the national register kept by the Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud, the regulator. Before you sign anything, look the company up there by name. If it is not on the list, it is not a regulated prepaga, whatever the brochure says, and none of the protections below apply to it.
- Search the company name in the regulator's prepaga register
- Ask for the plan contract in writing before paying anything
- Keep the plan name and number, you will need both for any claim
Signing up as a newcomer
Signing up means a health declaration, a declaración jurada de salud, plus identity and payment details. Requirements differ by company: some take a passport and a foreign card while your DNI is in process, others want DNI and CUIL and a local account. Ask that exact question before you start the paperwork, because it is the single thing that most often stops a newcomer from joining.
- Ask which documents that company accepts without a DNI yet
- Answer the health declaration honestly, an omission can void cover later
- Confirm how the monthly payment is taken and in what currency
Pásala does not sell insurance and takes nothing from any company. The list below is the market, not a recommendation.
The main companies and hospital plans
Two kinds of private cover exist. Nationwide prepagas sell plans across a network of clinics. Big private hospitals also sell their own plan, which is cheaper in exchange for treating you mostly inside that hospital. Compare on the network you would actually use: the clinic near your apartment and the hospital you would go to at 3 in the morning matter more than the brochure.
- Check which clinics near your barrio are in the plan, not just in the company
- Ask what the plan copays are for a consultation and for medication
- Ask about waiting periods, carencias, and any age surcharge
What it costs, and why it keeps changing
The monthly cuota depends on the plan, your age and how many people are on it, and it is adjusted repeatedly through the year. Any figure written here would be wrong within weeks, so ask each company for a current quote for your exact age and plan, in writing, and check what the last twelve months of increases looked like before committing.
- Get a written quote for your age and group, not a starting-from price
- Ask how often the cuota was raised in the last year
- Check whether an obra social contribution can be applied to the plan
Confirm every price on the company's own page or quote. Nothing here is a fixed figure.
Your rights, and where complaints go
Prepagas are governed by Ley 26.682 and supervised by the Superintendencia. Every registered plan has to cover at least the Programa Médico Obligatorio, the mandatory minimum set of services, so a plan cannot simply drop a treatment that is on that list. If a company refuses cover, delays authorization or raises the cuota in a way you think breaks the rules, the complaint goes to the Superintendencia, not to the company alone.
- Read what the Programa Médico Obligatorio has to include
- Put every refusal or delay in writing and keep the reply
- Escalate to the Superintendencia if the company does not resolve it