Rechtsstreit um Gesundheit in Argentinien: Gerechtigkeit für alle?

Abstract

The thesis about the pernicious consequences and unequal effects of the right-to-health litigation in Latin America are still a matter of discussion. A great part of the specialized literature argues that the litigants as well as the object of the claims belong to middle class or rich population of the society. The poor and vulnerable groups remain outside the universe of the privileged group of litigants. On the contrary others have argued recently that the effects of the right-to-health litigation depend on the concrete national context in which the cases are litigated. Also it makes clear that the right-to-health litigation is an important tool to guarantee the right to health of the most vulnerable population. To examine this position we take the right-to-health litigation in Argentina as case study. But instead of working with cases of the Supreme Court (like the main stream literature), we prefer to work with cases from the local jurisdiction, we focus on the right-to-health litigation in the Province of Buenos Aires. The results of this research confirm only partially the thesis of the unequal effects of the health care litigation. Having these results in mind should lead to a more robust discussion about a more equal access to the right to health of the most vulnerable population.