ITIC Americas 2026 | Healthcare in Latin America – costs, quality, and transparency

The ITIJ team have been reporting live from ITIC Americas in Mexico this week (31 May –2 June 2026), sharing the discussions that take place at the conference. Read all reports.

Dr Andrés Sánchez, Assistant Vice President of Operations LatAm, Global Excel

Dr Sánchezstarted by saying thatLatin America had become a strategic healthcare destination for international travellers, expatriate populations, and cross-border medical care.

He said that access to care is no longer the primary challenge – that managing cost, quality, and transparency is.

Dr Sánchezwent on to say that Latin America is a highly fragmented healthcare region, and that healthcare delivery varies significantly across tourism hubs, capital cities, and emerging medical destinations.

He said that high-volume destinations consistently show:

• Strong reliance on private hospitals
• Demand-driven pricing
• Limited upfront cost transparency
• Urgency-driven decision-making
• Volume does not equal predictability.

Dr Sánchezsaid that there were very different cost profiles for tourists versus expats, and that different utilisation patterns require different cost management strategies. He said: “The structure of public healthcare systems across the region makes private care the primary channel for timely and effective treatment.” He added that, for travellers and expatriates in Latin America, access to private healthcare is not optional – it is the operational reality.

Dr Sánchez went on to say that operational quality is assessed through a combination of indicators:

• Clinical outcomes and readmissions
• Consistency and completeness of medical records
• Provider behaviour and performance over time
• Billing accuracy and cost predictability.

And he added that quality is validated through experience, not labels.

He said key structural drivers of cost behaviour include:

• Demand-driven pricing models
• Limited contractual discount depth
• Provider cash-flow sensitivity
• Cultural approach to negotiation.

He said that in many markets, billed cost is the payable cost.

Dr Sánchez said that traditional negotiation models did not translate well in Latin America, adding that effective provider engagement required early engagement, cultural understanding, payment certainty, and a long-term relationship focus, and that “Negotiation in LatAm is operational, not transactional.”

He said common provider concerns include payment delays, coverage uncertainty, and administrative complexity, saying that what changes the dynamic are clear financial guarantees, realistic payment timelines, and consistent operational behaviour, adding that “trust reduces cost volatility. Transparency is a process, not a disclaimer.”

Constanza Traub, VP of Marketing, VUMI

Traub started by talking about the travel insurance landscape, and said that the LatAm travel insurance market growth was predicted to grow by 20.6% in 2027. She added that there had been big behaviour changes with post-pandemic adventure travel and younger travellers.

Traub said LatAm was not a region with a quality problem, nor was it a region with a cost problem, but that it was a region with a pathway governance issue and lack of awareness.

She talked about the strengths of the region, and said that private care was 30–70% lower than US costs, that there are centres of excellence, and growing digitalisation. She added that the risks include geographic disparities, billing opacity, overcharging for expat services, inconsistent coding, and fraud.

Traub went on to say that costs were competitive but operationally sensitive, and that cost competitiveness only works when insurers actively manage the pathway.

Traub said that, in travel insurance, “high utilisation does not always equal high severity, and the real issue is cost escalation driven by behaviour and billing practices.” She said location is also a cost driver and language barriers can be an issue.

She said that IPMI cost inflation in LatAm is mostly diagnostic overuse, extended ER and hospitalisation stays, unmanaged admission decisions, and fraud.

Traub added that the challenge is not quality; the real challenge is: “How do we steer insureds to the right facility at the right time?” and said that businesses can influence decisions through incentives.

She said in travel, steerage is more difficult – that travellers often self-present at facilities and this is only learned after the fact, once margins are already impacted. “The solution? A strong network of physicians and hospitals,” she said.

Traub said transparency was the weakest pillar, but added that there were opportunities for insurance companies such as medical steerage, second medical opinion adaptation, and telemedicine. She talked about the power of having a strong network and also said using telemedicine before going to the ER was vital. Traub said claims were not uniform – each country had its own age and risk profile.

She finished her presentation with advice to focus on three key aspects: promote telehealth, control steerage, and strengthen provider relations.

Dr Griselda Werner, Chief Operations Manager, Logimedex

Dr Werner started her presentation by talking about the LatAm healthcare ecosystem and said there needed to be a reality check. She said there were mixed healthcare systems – private, public, and both. She said physicians were highly trained, relationship-driven, and proud of their outcomes. She added that hospitals might stabilise first and document later, saying “billing can be more of a negotiation than a tariff”.

Dr Werner talked about the five guiding principles for network build and expansion: quality before discount; direct agreements where possible; define service-level agreements and escalation paths; measure what matters (key performance indicators); and medical oversight 24/7.

She said that cultural intelligence was the hidden driver of response times, and that communication was relational, not purely transactional, and that hierarchy matters: the ‘right’ person unlocks progress. She said WhatsApp often becomes the real-time escalation channel, and that soft skills equal operational speed (tone, respect, patience). She added that ‘micro-delays’ such as breaks, etc should be planned for.

Dr Werner talked about a communication playbook and said to open with respect, and to use bilingual, medically trained coordinators. She said it was important to confirm intensive care unit (ICU) capacity, specialist availability, imaging, and blood bank. She said to send one clean case summary and to escalate with empathy.

Dr Werner advised not to lead with “We need a discount” or threaten with blacklisting, adding that silence is often because of bandwidth.

She said when it comes to identifying centres of excellence, use signals, not marketing; look at accreditation; choose hubs with complex case volume, multilingual admin, and transparent billing.

She said to be cautious when there is limited ICU capability; no 24/7 specialist coverage; unclear pricing; no experience with international guarantees and billing timelines; pressure to admit before confirming capacity or scope; and with tourist destination facilities, as quality and pricing can vary widely, so verify in advance.

To finish, Dr Werner said that in Latin America medicine is excellent, relationships are essential, and that cafecito (coffee breaks) and chisme (talking or gossiping) are strategic.