Access to Healthcare
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Paraguay on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Paraguay to Bolivia · Access to healthcare
Bolivia's free public health system covers foreigners on two different footings. If an international instrument and reciprocity apply to you, you are covered on the same terms as Bolivians. If they do not, you are still covered - but only if you fall into one of five groups: pregnant women and mothers for six months after birth, women needing sexual and reproductive care, children under five, anyone over sixty, and certified disabled people. Migration status is not mentioned in either case. Entry to the system is through a first-level facility; higher levels are reached only by referral.
At a glance
- Cost of the public system
- Free to those it covers
- Foreigners covered on the same terms as Bolivians
- Where an international instrument and reciprocity apply
- Everyone else
- Covered only within five named groups
- The five groups
- Pregnant women to six months after birth; women needing sexual and reproductive care; children under five; anyone over sixty; certified disabled people
- Does residence status matter
- The article does not mention it
- Entry point
- A first-level facility, compulsorily
Requirements
- Not be covered by contributory short-term social security - the free system is for those outside it
- For cover on the same terms as Bolivians: an international instrument plus reciprocity
- Otherwise: fall into one of the five named groups
- Enter through a first-level public facility or a mobile team; second, third and fourth levels are reached only by referral
- Employees are covered instead through the contributory short-term social security branch
In detail
Two doors, and the second one is wide
The reciprocity door is narrow and depends on a treaty we have not traced. The second door does not: a foreigner over sixty, a pregnant woman, a small child or a certified disabled person is covered by the free public system whatever their nationality and whatever their papers. For an older person moving to Bolivia that is the single most important fact on this page.
Employment puts you somewhere else entirely
The free system is defined by exclusion: it covers people not protected by the contributory short-term social security branch. Someone in registered employment is inside that branch, through their employer, and does not use the free system at all.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Paraguay
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Las personas extranjeras que no están protegidas por el Subsector de la Seguridad Social de Corto Plazo, en el marco de instrumentos internacionales, bajo el principio de reciprocidad y en las mismas condiciones que las y los bolivianos, de acuerdo a la presente Ley.»Our translation - not official
Foreign persons who are not protected by the Short-Term Social Security Subsector, within the framework of international instruments, under the principle of reciprocity and on the same terms as Bolivians, in accordance with this Law.
Cite the article of Ley 475 as it now reads, not Ley 1152's own article 2: the decree-style numbering of the amending law means something different. The condition that does the work is "en el marco de instrumentos internacionales, bajo el principio de reciprocidad" - not residence, not a permit.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Mujeres embarazadas, desde el inicio de la gestación hasta los seis (6) meses posteriores al parto;»Our translation - not official
Pregnant women, from the beginning of gestation until six (6) months after childbirth;
The first of the five groups that are covered whether or not any international instrument applies.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Los pacientes deberán acceder obligatoriamente a través de los establecimientos de salud del Primer Nivel de Atención del subsistema público y los equipos móviles, con preferencia mediante el establecimiento al que se encuentra adscrito;»Our translation - not official
Patients must compulsorily access through the First Level of Care health establishments of the public subsystem and the mobile teams, preferably through the establishment to which they are registered;
Turning up at a hospital is not how the system works. The gateway is compulsory and the word in the statute is "obligatoriamente".
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«A la salud, derechos sexuales y reproductivos.»Our translation - not official
To health, and sexual and reproductive rights.
A right the migration statute guarantees to foreign migrants as such. It does not say who pays, which is what the health law settles.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Al trabajo, a la seguridad social, a los servicios y prestaciones sociales básicas; a ejercer una actividad remunerada por cuenta propia o ajena, de acuerdo a lo previsto en esta Ley.»Our translation - not official
To work, to social security, to basic social services and benefits; to carry out a remunerated activity on one's own account or another's, in accordance with what this Law provides.
The route into the contributory branch for someone in employment.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Which international instruments and which countries satisfy the reciprocity condition in the health law is not stated in the law and we did not find a published list. We looked at the health ministry's site, which was unreachable from our fetching environment, and at the text of the law itself.
The registration procedure - how a foreigner is enrolled at a first-level facility - was not read. The statute describes the entitlement and the gateway, not the paperwork.
The health ministry publishes implementing regulations for the way services are delivered. Those were not read.
- reportsLey N° 1152 de 20 de febrero de 2019, modificatoria a la Ley N° 475 (Gaceta Oficial, via ILO NATLEX)
Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy held by ILO NATLEX)
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- reportsLey N° 370 de Migración de 8 de mayo de 2013 (Gaceta Oficial, via ILO NATLEX)
Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy held by ILO NATLEX)
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source