Prepaid medicine companies apply increases of 2.8% in February and have already reported increases of up to 3.2% for March. In a context of slowing inflation, the health sector continues to put pressure on the budgets of millions of Argentine families.

Sunday, February 22, 2026   ⏱ 5 min read

February began and those affiliated with private medicine already feel it in their pockets. The main prepaid health companies informed their users of an average increase  of 2.8% in this month's fees, an adjustment that also reaches co-payments. Without pause, a few hours into the month, the same companies already sent notifications for March: up to 3.2% more.

The cycle repeats itself with millimetric precision: the prepaid companies adjust their prices with two months of lag with respect to official inflation. Thus, February's increases reflect last December's price rise (2.8% according to INDEC), while March's increases take January's inflation (2.9%) as a reference. The formula, released since DNU 70 December 2023, turned monthly increases into a structural constant of the Argentine private health system.

📊 KEY FACTS

📅 FEBRUARY 2026

This month's adjustment: 2.8% across the board

As reported by the prepaid medicine companies to their affiliates, the February increase reaches 2.8% of the total value of the fee. The adjustment is part of the scheme of periodic updates that the providers have been implementing in line with the evolution of the system's operating costs.

Concrete impact: A fee of $100,000 in January went to $102,800 in February. A $300,000 plan went to $308,400. Added to this is the proportional increase in co-payments, making medical consultations, outpatient practices and studies that are not fully covered more expensive.

The increase has a special impact on retirees and families with fixed incomes, who allocate a growing portion of their income to maintaining private health coverage. Consumer associations warned that, even with moderate percentages, the monthly accumulation generates a significant effect on sustained access to coverage.

📈 MARCH 2026 — WHAT'S NEXT

Up to 3.2% more: companies have already notified

Just after the first half of February, the main prepaid medicine companies began to send notifications with the new tariff tables for March. The increases have already been officially uploaded to the digital system of the Superintendence of Health Services (SSS), which since July 2025 requires monthly reports differentiated by plan, age group and region of the country.

The scheme for the third month of the year shows that most large companies aligned themselves with inflation in January (2.9%), with the exception of Avalian, which will apply the highest increase in the sector: 3.2%.

🏥 TABLE OF INCREASES BY COMPANY — MARCH 2026

* OSDE applies a staggered scheme: between 2.4% and 2.9% depending on the type of plan and the region.

The companies justify the increase by arguing a sustained increase in the costs of the system: medical supplies, updating of professional fees, rents of facilities and outsourced services. In some cases, the update also applies to copays, depending on the health plan and the company.

💰 ECONOMIC CONTEXT

An item that does not rest even if inflation falls

The increase in prepaid does not happen in a vacuum. February arrived with a chain of increases that simultaneously put pressure on the family budget: collective (2.8% in CABA, 4.5% in the Province), rents (34.6% for contracts under the old law), AySA (+4%), telecommunications (2.8% to 3.5%) and energy.

In year-on-year terms, the cumulative increase in prepaid in Greater Buenos Aires already reaches 27.9%, while at the national level the average reaches 28.2%. Official inflation in the last twelve months is around 31.5%, which means that, according to measurements by the Superintendence of Health Services, four of the five largest prepaid companies in the country adjusted below the general price level in 2025.

The picture of the sector today: OSDE leads the market with 2.2 million affiliates, followed by Swiss Medical (1.03 million), Sancor Salud (672 thousand), Galeno (442 thousand) and Medifé (317 thousand). Outside the top five, companies such as Hospital Italiano (32.55%), Unión Personal (33.8%) and OMINT (36.25%) exceeded annual inflation.

🕰️ RECENT TIMELINE

How we got here

🏛️ REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

The Superintendence and the new tariff transparency

Since July 2025, prepaid medicine companies have been required to report their differentiated prices by plan, age group and region to the Superintendence of Health Services (SSS) on a monthly basis. This scheme, the result of the deregulation promoted by the Milei government, seeks to generate competition between providers and give clear information to users so that they can compare and choose.

In addition, in January 2025, Resolution 1 of the Ministry of Health put an end to the triangulation system: more than 1.3 million affiliates who channeled their contributions through intermediary social works began to link them directly to their provider. The government estimated that this eliminated a cash of more than $30,000 million per month that these social works retained without providing services.

What can the affiliate do? The Superintendence enabled an official digital platform where users can consult and compare plans, values and providers. The cancellation or change of plan is also enabled with prior notification from the company.

✍️ EDITORIAL

Private health, an expense that does not give a truce

The slowdown in inflation in Argentina is good news, but it does not translate into relief when it comes to private health. The prepaid ones adjust month by month, dragging down a system that, for millions of middle-class families, became the second heaviest expense after rent.

Deregulation brought order to the sector, eliminated intermediaries and generated more transparency. However, the equation for the affiliate's pocket did not necessarily improve: the increases are still automatic, the co-payments rise in parallel and the alternative – the union social work – does not offer the quality that many seek in the private sector either.

The underlying challenge is not regulatory but structural: how to sustain a private health system that works, that covers well and that is financially achievable for a middle class hit by years of accumulated inflation. For now, the response that arrives in the mail every month is always the same: another increase.

Tags: 💊 Prepaid 📈 Medicine Inflation 🏥 Private Health Domestic 💰 Economy 🇦🇷 Argentina

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