Surgeons’ and payers’ perceptions of barriers to accessing bariatric and metabolic surgery in Argentina: An exploratory qualitative study

Estudio cualitativo

Published on 9 de diciembre de 2025 | http://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2025.11.3154

Surgeons’ and payers’ perceptions of barriers to accessing bariatric and metabolic surgery in Argentina: An exploratory qualitative study

Back to article Table 4

Main barriers to effective access to bariatric and metabolic surgery.

Barriers	Description
Legal and regulatory	Variable interpretation of Law 26 396 among health insurance providers.
	Inequalities in the application of the law vary by region.
	Frequent need for patients to take their cases to court to access coverage.
Administrative and bureaucratic	Delays in the approval of authorizations by social security and prepaid health plans.
	Excessive paperwork for clinical teams and a lack of unified administrative criteria.
	Lack of communication and coordination between physicians, auditors, and administrative areas.
	Complexity in the internal management of health centers.
Geographical	Inequality in the availability of specialized centers varies by region.
	Approval of surgical centers is conditioned by insufficient infrastructure in some provinces.
	Lack of auditors and periodic controls in regions with less access.
	Logistical difficulties and transportation costs for patients from the interior of the country.
	Limitations in health insurance coverage for transportation and accommodation of patients requiring surgery.
Financial	Creation of quotas and limitations on the number of surgeries authorized annually without a legal basis.
Financial	Impact of the cost of supplies, such as mechanical sutures, on the procedure’s coverage.

Source: Prepared by the authors based on data from the study.