La eliminación de descuentos en una serie de medicamentos ha generado un escenario dramático en las farmacias. Los jubilados, que antes contaban con el apoyo del PAMI para acceder a medicamentos esenciales, ahora enfrentan precios duplicados o triplicados por parte de los laboratorios. Aunque existen subsidios sociales y mecanismos para aquellos que gastan más del 15% de su ingreso mensual en medicación, la burocracia y los requisitos complican el acceso. La situación es especialmente crítica para quienes padecen enfermedades crónicas como la diabetes.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The medicines, because since the discounts of a series of medicines were removed,
00:07the things that are happening in the pharmacies are dramatic, for two reasons.
00:12First, because, of course, a medicine, you had it for a discount, with a PAM discount,
00:17and a guide came out, or you didn't pay for it.
00:20But the problem is that they not only removed the discounts for a lot of medicines,
00:25but also, those same medicines without discounts,
00:27the laboratories, which, as always, don't give up easily,
00:31and always take advantage of the weakest,
00:33doubled or even tripled those prices.
00:36What's going on with the medicines? Clara, good morning.
00:38How are you? Good morning.
00:4044 medicines, with a BADME, with what?
00:44This is what the National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners says,
00:49we know them as PAMI, a re-adjustment.
00:54They say, we know that, when we talk about re-adjustment,
00:58it also has to do with the issue of the budget, and it has to do with the costs.
01:02That's a euphemism, a re-adjustment is a euphemism,
01:06not to tell the truth, no, let's say that they are,
01:09to save money, they are making it put to the retirees who have the least.
01:14The PAMI, in parallel to this information, due to this discount,
01:18says that, for 20 years, there has been social subsidy,
01:23the retiree, the pensioner, who cannot pay the corresponding insurance
01:28of the medicine he needs, can use the social subsidy and not pay anything.
01:34You add bureaucracy, requests...
01:37It has to do it through a request,
01:40a form has to be completed to meet requirements,
01:44and another important issue is the issue that highlights the social work
01:49in all this that you are telling, Rolo,
01:52it says that if the retiree, the pensioner, the PAMI affiliate,
01:56spends more than 15% of their monthly income on medication,
02:02they can also have the medicines for free.
02:06It talks about these two ways, the social subsidy on the one hand,
02:09and the budget that exceeds 15%.
02:12This is what the officials say in theory,
02:16when you go to the pharmacy, you find this panorama.
02:22PAMI, in parallel to this information,
02:25says that if the retiree, the pensioner, the PAMI affiliate,
02:28spends more than 15% of their monthly income on medication,
02:31they can also have the medicines for free.
02:34It's not just about medication,
02:36they also feel that they are left without coverage.
02:39How is it to be retired and come to the pharmacy to buy medicine?
02:43Yes, the truth is, I tell you, it's unfortunate.
02:47I have diabetes, I have a series of things.
02:51Do you take any remedy that has come out of the 100% coverage?
02:55Yes, the robatastina, for example,
02:59before they covered me 100%, now they don't cover me anymore.
03:03Do you think that a diabetic person has PAMI,
03:08they give you only once a year 50 reactives
03:14for you to take glucose?
03:19You have to use one reactive per day.
03:22And sometimes I need more.
03:24If you don't have a son who works,
03:26more than I have a salary that can give you more or less,
03:30because thank God, and above all, I rent.
03:33Have you stopped buying remedies because it is not enough?
03:37No, there is a God and he is there, luckily.
03:40We always depend on him,
03:42because if we depend on humans, we are ready.
03:45Do you charge the minimum, like most retirees?
03:48Minimum, I worked 15 years as an administrative employee.
03:52And how do you do with retirement? How do you stretch it?
03:55I don't know, look, somehow we have to continue, you see,
04:00we don't have another alternative.
04:02Do you avoid buying remedies?
04:05And I try to buy the cheapest.
04:10We try to compensate them with discounts from the pharmacy,
04:14but well, it is difficult, it shows.
04:17Sometimes they leave without buying.
04:20How much do retirees usually spend on average?
04:23A lot, it depends.
04:24There are people who spend 20,000 pesos
04:26and there are people who spend 60, 70, 80.
04:29Any drop for the eyes today is worth 20,000 pesos.
04:34Sometimes they carry three,
04:36the intake for diabetics, it costs.
04:40Many pay in quotas with a credit card,
04:45but that affects the following month.
04:47And they lower the discount, let's say.
04:51Before it was 50, now it's 40 and so on.
04:53And there are many that, for example,
04:55if I have to go to a study,
04:57it doesn't cover me anymore, they took it out on me.
05:00So this government, look, it has to go, now.
05:04How much did you spend?
05:05I spent 50, almost 60.
05:0960,000 pesos.
05:1160,000 pesos.
05:12Because my gastronomic social work,
05:14like all social works, you see,
05:16you cover your eyes, they fill their pockets,
05:19we retirees, this doesn't cover us,
05:22that doesn't cover us, well, a lot of things.
05:25The retirement of Mr. President
05:27has the reason that it increased,
05:29but things increased by 1,000%.
05:31So it's impossible to pay.
05:33There are people who eat only once a day
05:35and not what is really needed
05:37to feed an adult.
05:39At this time, we don't have any kind of support.
05:42Retirees think, either we take care of ourselves or we eat.
05:46And that's terrible.
05:47It's terrible, terrible, terrible.
05:49We have many of our colleagues within the center
05:54that we don't reach the forties,
05:57but it's something that hurts.
06:01Sometimes between us we have to try to get together
06:06and be able to do any kind of raffles,
06:10little things like that,
06:12to be able to lend us that fund
06:15and help those who don't have medicine.
06:18They give us the medicine of a deceased
06:20and we have to put that in our group,
06:23for those who need it.
06:26I never saw that.
06:28And we are living it.
06:32Seeing that the situation is so poor,
06:36in everything that one wants to see
06:38in terms of food and medicine,
06:40and can't do it,
06:42it's hard on the head.
06:44And we are getting sadder and sadder
06:46that this also leads to disease.
06:51Let's hope that this fight that we are doing,
06:53the retirees, that they don't forget.
06:55Let's see, we all have a grandfather in the house
06:58and we have to respect and take care of them.
07:02And there is such a step from youth to old age
07:07that when you realize,
07:09we are on this side.
07:11So see what is happening to us
07:13and don't let it happen to you.
07:16THE CONTRAST
07:24The contrast is again raised
07:26between the officials
07:29who look at their computers and their Excel
07:32and say, no, this is expensive,
07:34it has to be cut, it has to be cut, it has to be cut.
07:36And how that affects the end of the chain,
07:38in this case, the retirees.
07:40And the contrast between what one of the people said,
07:44every time one dies, we get in the group
07:46to see what are the medicines that were left over
07:48and we make them available.
07:50We are talking about these things.
07:52When one listens with a fine ear
07:55the postcards they leave,
07:57the testimonies of these people,
07:59the heart is destroyed.
08:01Someone dies and they put the medicines in circulation.
08:05People who say, well, luckily I don't rent,
08:08my kids keep me.
08:11People who say, and I can't afford
08:14to take the three medicines I have to take,
08:16I have to choose.
08:17Okay, but the doctor didn't tell you to choose,
08:19he told you to take these three.
08:20You had to become a self-medicator
08:22and stop taking medicines.
08:24There is always talk of self-medication in Argentina
08:27as a problem of people who take too many medicines.
08:30Here a kind of self-medication begins,
08:33people stop taking medicines
08:36because they don't have to pay for them.
08:38All this kind of story contrasts
08:41between the excel of the officials
08:43who say you have to cut, you have to cut, you have to cut,
08:45and the reality of what the retirees are going to live.
08:48I suppose, Clarita, that you will have
08:50from these testimonies much more than me.
08:52There are people who end up doing these pirouettes
08:55to bank the increase in services,
08:58the increase in food and the increase in medicines.
09:00Yes, actually, I listened to you carefully, Roblo,
09:04the conclusion and what happens to me inside
09:07when I find out about the needs of the retirees
09:10is that the retirees, for a long time,
09:13the only thing they do,
09:15and this has increased in recent years,
09:17is to establish priorities,
09:19to permanently establish priorities in consumption.
09:22It's about what it's about,
09:24but at the same time they are not a priority for the governments.
09:27That is, they establish priorities all the time.
09:30Because let's think about one thing,
09:32how does a pensioner live with 234,000 pesos?
09:38Because let's take out the bonus,
09:40because the reality is that the minimum wage
09:43is not at 300,000 pesos, it is at 230,000 pesos.
09:47So how do they live with that?