prepaid medicine - Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso

TRAINING ON PUBLIC FINANCE FOR LEGISLATIVE ADVISORS

by Nicolas Perez | Apr 11, 2024 | Activities

On Tuesday, April 9, the Argentine Congressional Budget Office (OPC) initiated a training program on issues related to public finances for the advisors of deputies and senators of the Congress of the Nation. The Director-General of the OPC, Gabriel Esterelles, together with the Director of Parliamentary Training of the Senate, Camila Duro, opened the training program at the Senate.

The purpose of the program is to introduce key issues for the interpretation of initiatives related to public resources and budget design to those who assist legislators in their work.

The program, jointly organized by the OPC and the Directorate of Parliamentary Training of the Senate, was designed around three main topics: taxes, expenditures and public credit, each of them to be addressed in two classes of two hours each, twice a week.

The sequence of face-to-face meetings is being held in different spaces of each Chamber to promote direct contact and facilitate the exchange of ideas.
This training plan, which will conclude on April 25, will be delivered by the directors of the OPC, with the assistance of their analysts:
Martín López Amorós, director of Fiscal Analysis, with Pedro Velazco and Emilio Nastri; Ignacio Lohlé, director of Budget Analysis, together with Laura Cafarelli, Julieta Olivieri and Romina Muras; Joel Vaisman, director of Sustainability and Public Debt Analysis, with Eugenia Carrasco.

ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET EXECUTION – FEBRUARY 2024

by Nicolas Perez | Mar 7, 2024 | Budget Execution

Due to a decrease in expenditures (-23.8% YoY) and a slight increase in revenues (+0.4% YoY), in the first two months of the year, the National Government recorded a financial surplus 150.0% higher in real terms than in the same period of the previous year.

The primary surplus, which does not include interest payments, was 1,805.5% higher than that obtained a year earlier.
Total revenues grew 0.4% in the year-on-year comparison, driven by increases in the PAIS Tax (405.9% YoY), in Export Duties (70.9% YoY) and in VAT (15.4% YoY). These increases were partially offset by the decrease in resources from Social Security (-25.1% YoY) and Income Tax (-36.5% YoY).
Total National Government expenditures recorded a real fall of 23.8% YoY in the first two months of the year and the cut in primary expenditures, which does not include the increase in debt interest, rose to 33.6% YoY.
Pensions (-33.0% YoY real), energy subsidies (-59.5% YoY real), capital expenditures (-82.4% YoY real) and social programs (-29.9% YoY real) were the items that most contributed to the reduction in expenditures. However, debt interest grew 34.2% YoY.
In February, the financial result was in deficit (-ARS186.635 billion), although in the first two months of the year the surplus was maintained (ARS1,020.296 billion), with levels above the average of a 15-year cycle.
Total accrued expenditures represented 24.0% of the budget, which is an extension of the budget in force during 2023.

ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET EXECUTION – FEBRUARY 2024

THE OPC PRESENTED THE LATEST BUDGET EXECUTION REPORT TO LEGISLATORS

by Nicolas Perez | Feb 16, 2024 | Activities

The Argentine Congressional Budget Office presented the latest published report on the Analysis of the National Government Budget Execution – January 2024 to national legislators and their advisors.

This is one of the periodic works conducted by the OPC with the purpose of monitoring revenues collected and expenditures accrued.

The presentation was given by the OPC Director, Gabriel Esterelles, together with the directors of Sustainability and Public Debt Analysis, Joel Vaisman; of Fiscal and Tax Analysis, Martín López Amorós; of Budget Analysis, Ignacio Lohle, and the analyst of this last directorate, María Laura Cafarelli.

The purpose of the online meeting was to provide members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, as well as their assistants, with technical elements to improve the understanding of the monthly report disseminated through the OPC web page, offering, at the same time, the possibility of clarifying doubts about the methodology used and the results obtained.

The good reception of this new work modality was the basis for the decision to repeat it periodically to consolidate the technical dialogue between the OPC and the National Congress.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARGENTINE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

by Nicolas Perez | Dec 6, 2021 | Health

In Argentina, the great differences in the provision of health care between jurisdictions, labor informality and a mixed system, conditioned by regulations that are not always effective for their purpose, hinder the existence of equitable and egalitarian access to health care.

Public health care is used by 36% of the population, about 16 million people, who have no other type of coverage and with large differences in the benefits they receive in each province. Sixty-one percent of the population is covered by the Social Security/Union-run system and 13.6% is covered by the private system (10.4% of the population has more than one type of coverage).
Sixty-three percent of registered health facilities are private and 97% of them are business establishments. The National Government plays a subsidiary role in health care, which is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that 95.7% of public hospitals are provincial or municipal.
There are large differences between jurisdictions in the number and types of facilities. In the province that has the most, the number of health care centers is four times higher than in the province that has the fewest.
The concentration of beneficiaries among the different Social Security/Union-run health insurances is remarkably uneven: the one belonging to the trade union of employees of commerce has 1,692,600 members, whereas others have less than 500.
The budget of PAMI (Comprehensive Medical Attention Program, managed by the National Government) represents 1.1% of the Gross Domestic Product.
The difference in coverage of the private subsystem is the most significant: between the province with the highest coverage and the one with the lowest coverage (with respect to their total population) there is a difference of 21.2 times.
In the private subsystem there is also a strong concentration: OSDE (as a prepaid health insurance company), Swiss Medical, Galeno, Omint, Medicus and Paramedic account for 80% of the total.
The complementary policies of free choice of Social Security/Union-run health insurance and transfer of contributions to the private subsector increase the differences between services provided by the different Social Security/Union-run health insurances and affect their funding.
In most Social Security/Union-run health insurances and prepaid private health insurances the number of male members is greater than the number of female members, mirroring the reality of the labor market.
In general terms, infant mortality is higher in the provinces of northern Argentina than in the rest of the country.