Argentine pharmacies suspend purchases through PAMI (Argentina's Medicare) over $180 million debt.

The Argentine Pharmacists' Confederation (COFA) announced that, effective June 16, all purchases made through PAMI (Argentina's Medicare) will be suspended over a 2.6 billion peso ($180 million) debt the agency has accrued with COFA's 10,000 member pharmacies since February.

The president of the COFA, Raúl Mascaró, explained that while PAMI habitually reimburses pharmacies three months after the fact, this unprecedented level of arrears has forced member pharmacies to refuse purchases through PAMI in order to conserve inventory they can no longer afford to replenish; but while pharmacists' dissatisfaction over delays in PAMI reimbursements is a longstanding problem at the agency, this is the first such announcement since the 2002 crisis.

Following this announcement, PAMI officials disbursed a 500 million peso ($35 million) payment to COFA pharmacies - part of a 930 million peso ($65 million) payment to all pharmacies affiliated with PAMI. Mascaró, however, pointed out that this payment only covers one month of receipts, and that the suspension cannot be lifted until the remainder is also reimbursed.

A 60% increase in pharmaceutical prices since the right-wing Mauricio Macri administration took office has only added to Argentine pharmacists' woes, as have cutbacks enacted by the Macri administration citing alleged fraud at the agency. "Care is suffering," Macaró lamented, "not only for retirees, but for all who depend on social security."

PAMI, established in 1971, covers 5.5 million senior citizens and disabled individuals and pays for some 13 million prescriptions a month - some 70% of them free of charge since former President Néstor Kirchner expanded coverage for these in 2005.

At: http://www.diarioregistrado.com/sociedad/duro-golpe-a-los-jubilados--farmacias-de-todo-el-pais-suspenden-la-atencion-a-pami_a5762af58bccca16d525e2543

And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201606/151639-farmacias-suspenden-pami.html&prev=search