- María José Luzuriaga: Instituto de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Río de Janeiro, Brasil.
- Hugo Spinelli: Instituto de Salud Colectiva, Universidad Nacional de Lanús, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This paper analyzes problems experienced by policy-holders of voluntary private health insurance plans in Argentina when insurance companies fail to comply with the Consumer Protection Code. The sample consisted of consumer complaints filed with the Consumer Protection Bureau and rulings by the Bureau from 2000 to 2008. One striking issue was recurrent non-compliance with services included in the Mandatory Medical Program and the companies' attempts to blame policy-holders. According to the study, the lack of an information system hinders scientific studies to adequately address the problem. Thus, a comparison with studies on health insurance in other Latin American countries highlighted the importance of such research, the relationship to health systems, constraints on use and denial of citizens' rights to healthcare, and the increasing judicialization of healthcare provision.