In Argentina, the provision of health care is divided into three components: a highly decentralized universal public sector, funded from general taxation; a constellation of compulsory collective insurance schemes, financed by contributions withdrawn from thesalaries of workers in the formal labor market; and a system of private insurance companies used primarily by the middle and upper classes. Regarding the delivery of medicalservices, the configuration is mixed, as the weight of public and private providers isroughly equal. This complex structure, which derives from the historical development ofparticular institutions, produces high costs and unequal access to care according to aperson?s geographical residence, occupational status, and purchasing power.