Determinantes del acceso a los medicamentos: el caso argentino

ALOMAR ANALÍA - MOSCOSO NEBEL - LARROSA JUAN

Ciudad de Salta

Congreso; Reunión Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Economía Política; 2006

Asociación Argentina de Economía Política

In this short communication we briefly discuss the influence of policy effects in the demand for medical products in Argentina. Since 1998 Argentina experienced a descendent phase on its economic cycle, with a deep recession. The immediate consequence was a crisis, with a constant increase in unemployment rates. This involved a reduction in the supply of health services either by the public system (so called Obras Sociales) as well as by the sector of private insurance companies (so called Medicina Prepaga). The problem worsened when unemployed lost any access to health services. Even more in 2001, the country suffered important currency devaluation with the drop of the Convertibility system that has prevailed for ten years. As most of the medicines and main drugs were imported, prices grew up quickly. Therefore, more than 34% of population could not access to the provision of medicines, even more they can’t buy them. As a solution, in 2002 the goverment designed a national policy based on improving access to basic medicines by free distribution, and by compelling professionals to make medical prescription with the generic name of drugs. We discuss these three years in the recent economy history that implies great consequences on medicine demand. We focus on the effects of these policies (devaluation and generic prescription) to the sales of medicines in Argentina. Keywords: demand of medicines, policy effects, time series JEL: C22 Time-Series Models          I18 Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health          I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets