Obras sociales: cover that comes with the job

Ley 23.660 makes salaried workers in the private and public sectors mandatory beneficiaries of an obra social, a health fund financed by payroll contributions. Registration as an employee is what brings the cover: the contributions on the worker’s pay fund their place in the fund. Many obras sociales are union funds tied to a sector’s collective agreement, and retirees and pensioners belong to the system under the same law.

According to the Buenos Aires judiciary’s law library, the Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud (SSS) supervises the obras sociales and keeps the national register of prepaid medicine companies. Public hospitals sit alongside the funds. Argentine fact-checkers and press report that a 2025 decree, DNU 366/2025, applied to national hospitals by Resolución 1066/2026 in August 2026, lets those hospitals charge foreigners without residence for non-emergency care. Emergency care stays open to everyone, permanent residents keep the same access as citizens, and the provinces and cities that run most public hospitals set their own rules.

What the payroll carries

Article 16 of Ley 23.660, in the 1988 text published on the official legal portal, sets an employer contribution of 6% of pay and a worker contribution of 3%, with a further 1.5% for each additional dependant the worker adds. That page shows the original wording without later amendments, and a 2026 EOR provider guide still quotes 6% and 3%, so check the current figure when you plan payroll.

Work accidents and occupational illness are a separate duty. Ley 24.557 requires employers to cover them through a work-risk insurer, an aseguradora de riesgos del trabajo (ART), unless they qualify to self-insure. A health benefit, whether a prepaga upgrade or a plan from abroad, does not stand in for ART cover.

The family group in the law

The obra social is family cover from the start. Its primary family group includes a spouse, unmarried children up to 21 (up to 25 in some cases while they study), children with a disability at any age, stepchildren, and children in legal guardianship.

Keep that list in mind when you decide who an employer-funded upgrade should include, the employee alone or the household as well.

Prepagas and where the contributions go

Prepaid medicine companies, the empresas de medicina prepaga, are regulated by Ley 26.682 of 2011 and must register with the SSS. Argentine press reports that the SSS has cancelled the registration of entities that did not comply.

Córdoba’s accountants’ council and financial press describe two SSS resolutions, 3284/2024 (in force from 1 December 2024) and 1/2025, that let a salaried worker send their mandatory contributions straight to a registered prepaga, with no obra social in between. When the prepaga plan costs more than the contributions, the worker pays the difference. An accounting guide adds that a worker can change obra social once a year online, and that the employer manages the change for a company-arranged plan.

A 2026 EOR provider guide describes prepagas as the main route to comprehensive private care, and an employer plan above the standard contributions as an extra benefit. That is where an employer-funded improvement sits: on top of contributions the law already sets.

Ley 12.988 and insurance placed abroad

Argentina restricts where risks located there may be insured. Ley 12.988, a 1947 insurance law in its official consolidated text, prohibits insuring abroad any person, property or insurable interest under Argentine jurisdiction, and sets fines for both the insured and the intermediary. The official text shows no later amendment to that article.

So a global health policy is not a ready-made benefit for someone living in Argentina, and the obra social contributions remain owed by law for every salaried worker whatever other cover exists. Our overview of international health insurance for remote employees looks at the role global plans play in other countries.

Entity or employer of record

EOR providers describe two routes for a foreign company employing someone in Argentina: its own Argentine entity, or an employer of record that becomes the legal employer and runs the payroll contributions, obra social included. The same guides warn that treating an employee as a contractor can bring fines.

Both routes leave the full set of Argentine payroll duties in place. Choose between a local entity and an EOR with local legal advice, and bring the Ley 12.988 question and the tax treatment of any prepaga upgrade to that same local adviser in Argentina before anything is bought. Our page on health coverage for EOR employees and contractors abroad lays the hiring routes out side by side.

Asking for an introduction

Use the form on this page to tell us where in Argentina your people live, how many there are, whether you employ through your own entity or an EOR, and whether dependants are part of the request. We will pass it to a benefits partner that handles international and remote-team health coverage, and from there eligibility, plans and pricing rest with the partner and the insurer. The wider section starts at employee benefits for small businesses.

A few useful answers

Common questions

Is health cover automatic for a salaried employee in Argentina?

It comes with the job. Ley 23.660 makes salaried workers mandatory beneficiaries of an obra social, funded by contributions from both the employer and the worker on each payslip.

What contribution rates does Ley 23.660 set?

The 1988 text of article 16 sets 6% of pay from the employer and 3% from the worker, plus 1.5% for each additional dependant. Check the current figure, because the official page shows the original text.

What is a prepaga?

A private prepaid medicine company regulated by Ley 26.682 and registered with the Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud. Argentine accountants and press describe 2024 and 2025 resolutions that let a worker route their mandatory contributions directly to a registered prepaga and pay any difference in cost.

Can a foreign insurer cover someone living in Argentina?

Ley 12.988 prohibits insuring abroad any person under Argentine jurisdiction, with fines for the insured and the intermediary, so a policy from abroad cannot be treated as a routine purchase for an Argentine employee.

Does a health plan cover work accidents in Argentina?

No. Ley 24.557 requires employers to cover work accidents and occupational illness through a work-risk insurer (ART), unless they qualify to self-insure, and that duty is separate from health cover.

International Health Insurance for Remote Employees in Argentina