PAMI

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This article is about the public health insurance agency in Argentina. For Egyptian Pharaoh, see Pami. For the journal, see IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.
Comprehensive Medical
Attention Program
Programa de Atención Médica Integral
public health insurance overview
Formed13 May 1971; 52 years ago (1971-05-13)
JurisdictionGovernment of Argentina
HeadquartersPerú 169
Buenos Aires
Employees12,000 (2024)[1]
Annual budgetus$4 billion (2010)[2]
public health insurance executive
  • Esteban Leguízamo, Executive Director[3]
Parent public health insuranceMinistry of Health
Websitepami.org.ar

The Comprehensive Medical Attention Program (Spanish: Programa de Atención Médica Integral, mostly known for its acronym PAMI) is a public health insurance government agency in Argentina managed by the country's Ministry of Health.

History

Historically, health expenses in Argentina were met on an

immigrant associations. Health care co-operatives developed into employer and trade union sponsored obras sociales beginning in 1910. They expanded rapidly during the administration of President Juan Perón from 1946 to 1955, when unionization was fostered.[4] Health coverage for senior citizens remained sparse, however, and those who could retain their obra social generally received less adequate care than younger enrollees.[5]

PAMI was thus established to absorb the growing number of seniors on the initiative of Social Welfare Minister

freeways in Buenos Aires by Mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore.[5]

The prolonged economic downturn of the 1980s affected the agency's finances, however. President

Governor of Buenos Aires, Dr. Alejandro Armendáriz, as head of the Crisis Management Commission. The agency's finances were stabilized by September, and the crisis commission was dissolved in favor of a panel presided by Argentina's two leading senior citizens' advocacy groups. PAMI was restored to solvency while adding spousal benefits and vacation subsidies for beneficiaries.[7] Accordingly, Alfonsín signed Law 23.660 on January 5, 1989, which made affiliation in PAMI mandatory for all registered employees, and enacted a 6% payroll tax to that effect.[4][8]

The agency's financial crisis was compounded by a series of administrative crises during the subsequent administration of President

auditing services.[11] His successor, Víctor Alderete, remained at the post until the end of Menem's presidency in 1999. His tenure, however, was marked by subcontractor cost overruns, and he faced over 20 charges to that related to these.[12]

PAMI had entered a crisis stage. The agency's annual budget declined to US$900 million in 2003. Coverage, in addition, was managed through a system consisting of 72 intermediaries whose costs reached 50% of the agency's benefits spending, and the resulting deficits at PAMI prompted a reduction in prescription drug coverage to 40% by 2003. These developments led most retirees to opt out of the system, and membership declined from four million in 1992[4] to 900,000 by 2003, or fewer than one fourth of Argentine seniors.[2]

The administrations of Presidents

rent, and other assistance from PAMI. The agency's chronic deficits were reversed, and by 2010, it maintained a reserve fund of aroundUS$1.75 billion. Its enrollment also recovered, and services were provided to a total of 3.7 million patients in 2009, or 89% of the agency's members.[2][13]

Operation

PAMI building in Azul, Buenos Aires Province

Administered under the aegis of the Instituto Nacional de Servicios Sociales para Jubilados y Pensionados (National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners, or INSSJP), PAMI serves

senior citizens, and veterans of the 1982 Falklands War
.

PAMI maintains 37 regional offices and 550 local offices for its over 4 million enrollees. The agency provides free medicine to 650,000 pensioners and retirees, 87% of whom earn the minimum

pacemaker implants (70% of those provided in Argentina).[2]

PAMI covers around 25 million doctor's visits and nearly 2 million prescriptions annually.

premiums for those over age 60 would be unaffordable to most retirees, however, as these average around us$150 per person per month.[2]

References

  1. ^ El PAMI redujo 30 gerencias y cargos políticos con sueldos de $3.000.000 promedio on Infobae, 20 Feb 2024
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "El presupuesto del PAMI aumentó 500 % desde el 2003". El Libertador.
  3. ^ Javier Milei decidió quién presidirá el PAMI on Cronista.com, 7 Dec 2023
  4. ^ a b c Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth. The World Bank. 1993.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "El PAMI sufrió hasta ahora 13 intervenciones". Clarín.
  6. ^ "Historia del PAMI". Portal Geriátrico. 26 November 2005.
  7. ^ "Alejandro Armendáriz". Municipalidad de Saladillo. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05.
  8. ^ "Ley N° 23.660". Información Legislativa.
  9. ^ "Procesan a ex directores del PAMI" [Former PAMI Directors Prosecuted]. La Nación (in Spanish). 19 February 1998. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  10. ^ "PAMI: admiten que se paga de más en los contratos". Clarín. Archived from the original on 2012-06-12. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
  11. ^ "PAMI: gastó $ 3.290.000 en auditorías en cinco meses". La Nación.
  12. ^ "El PAMI, signado por los escándalos". La Nación.
  13. ^ "Federico Susbielles, presidente del Consorcio del Puerto de Bahía Blanca".
  14. ^ "La jubilación mínima subirá a $1.227 en marzo". InfoBae.
  15. ^ "Centros de Atención". PAMI.

External links

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