Argentina growth‑hormone therapy access

In July 2026 an Argentine court ordered health insurers to restore coverage for an eight‑year‑old girl, Emma Costas, who needed daily growth‑hormone injections costing millions of pesos. The ruling forced the public insurer IOMA and the social security agency ANSES to provide the medication after the family’s loss of employment and benefits left the treatment unaffordable.

Two weeks later a federal judge granted a similar amparo for a 13‑year‑old boy, compelling the private insurer Ribera Salud and the workers’ health‑care scheme OSCEARA to fund his somatotropina regimen, which also costs around 11 million pesos monthly. The court referred the case to prosecutors for possible contempt of the insurers.

Both decisions cite the precedent of Lionel Messi, who received the same therapy in childhood, and highlight a growing legal push to secure uninterrupted, high‑cost medical treatment for patients with growth‑hormone deficiency within Argentina’s public and private health systems.