It was to be the Latin American version of the Charles Dickens’ classic, a Tale of Two Cities. For Gustavo Lopez, vice president of Legal for Discovery Networks, Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, the discussion he was to lead at WorldCity’s Government Affairs Connections gathering on Feb. 26 was going to be about Buenos Aires and Bogota. More specifically, he wanted to talk about how utterly different was Discovery’s experience in working through knotty challenges with government regulation — this group might prefer the term intervention — in Argentina and… Read More
WorldCity
The Latest
Medtronic's Jim Hogan, third from left, makes a point as, left to right, MD International founder Al Merritt, Baxter's Carlos Alonso and Penny Shaffer, Blue Cross, look on
Latin America: Where universal health care is not a foreign notion
The notion of universal health care, a foreign notion in the United States, is not so in many foreign lands, including the nations of Latin America.
From Brazil to Colombia, Mexico to Chile and with many other nations, it exists to a large degree, if in slightly different forms.
Universal health care doesn’t necessarily mean better health care, however, but it does change how the health care system works, as do a host of other factors, according to panelists at WorldCity’s monthly Global Connections gathering on Sept. 30.
Holland & Knight attorney Maria Currier, who heads the health care practice, asks a question of the panel
As Jim Hogan, vice president for Latin America for Medtronic, said of the United States’ health care system when it came up, “I don’t think it’s broken. I have lived most of my adult life outside of the United States (in Europe, largely). We have the best health care system in the world, bar none.”
Hogan, whose company is best known for pacemakers but also sells implantable pain-relief devices and other equipment, was joined on the Global Connections panel by Carlos Alonso, president of Latin America for Baxter Export Corp.; Al Merritt, the founder of MD International; and Penny Shaffer, market president for South Florida for Blue Cross Blue Shield. Global Connections is sponsored by Florida International University’s Chapman Graduate School of Business and Discovery Networks Latin America and U.S. Hispanic.
Baxter’s Alonso describes differing dialysis options
Navigating the various systems is not without complication and challenge, since some countries are more resistent and cautious to new technologies, like Brazil, and some just the opposite, like Chile, Alonso said. Depending on the country, Alonso said, some will focus more on home care rather than clinic or hospital care in in treating, for example, dialysis patients. One factor: Was there the heavy investment in the hospital- or clinic-based system before the advent of the more cost-effective home-delivery option? It is similar to the way that the lack of landline phone systems allowed some developing nations to leap-frog straight to cellular technology.
In addition, the general philosophy can be different from that in the United States. “High touch, low tech,” was the way Latin America was described by Merritt, who founded medical equipment manufacturer MD International more than 20 years ago in Miami and built it into a $55 million company with more than 100 employees before selling it recently.
By that, he meant that in many countries of the region, there is much more consultation and advice with reduced access to the more modern equipment often available in the United States.
Which country has the best health care delivery?
Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Penny Shaffer commented on Costa Rica
“Costa Rica is becoming a center of excellence,” said Shaffer, of Blue Cross and a veteran of AT&T’s operations in Latin America. Colombia and Brazil are also leaders, she said, before settling on Brazil.
“I would choose Brazil,” said Alonso, of Baxter, who also mentioned Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. “Colombia is completely changing its health care system (toward an increased focus on private vs. public). It is a much more business-friendly environment.”
For adoption of new medical technologies, Merritt said “Mexico City and Bogota. Brazil’s always a little slower.”
Medtronic’s Hogan also offered another distinction between U.S. healthcare and that of much of Latin America.
“The medical care in Sao Paulo is fundamentally different than the same treatment in the Amazon Jungle. That’s a big difference with the United States,” he said. “So I would have to choose the ‘country’ of Mexico City, Bogota, Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.
DHL’s Millena Telez asks a question of the panelists
“Then I would have to decide whether I would be in public or private. If it’s private, that’s when it changes. I would probably choose Brazil. All four have one type of another of universal health care but Brazil is well funded.”
The Latest From "Government Affairs Connections"
