OBJECTIVES: The national drug policy launched in 2002 in Argentina refers to prescription by generic name as one of its main features. The normative, based on a national Law, generated different reactions on the health team members. In this direction, a group of proffesionals considers that the quality of generics is lower than the one associated to brand-name drugs. These perceptions have strong effects on the everyday practice, in terms of resource utilization, prescription behavior and implications on population health. By considering actorsx beliefs as sources of actions under imperfect information, this document analyses perceptions of the health team members at the primary care level about generics provided by a public provision program (called Remediar), and studies the alternative strategies implemented by those who “do not trust” on the therapeutic effectiveness of these drugs. METHODS: We developed a cross-sectional study, based on a closed and anonimous survey directed to primary care health team professionals all aorund the country. Argentine territory was divided into six regions (Northeast, Northwest, Cuyo, Litoral, the Great Buenos Aires and the Patagonia) and a minimun of 40 surveys were collected by region. RESULTS: Frecuency analysis revealed that 32.4% reported some kind of mistrust regarding the quality if the generics being distributed by Remediar. About 41% of them reacted by increasing prescription over the recommended treatment. By contrast, 24% did not change their prescription behavior, and 17% preferred to recommend to their patients to purchase of brands at the drugstore level, despite of the fact they have to pay out of pocket for them. CONCLUSION: In every case, health team members' perceptions bias public provision effectiveness and equity, damaging the quality of the public strategy. Interventions towards reaching more informed patients and disseminating generic drugsx characteristics are necessary in order to increase trust and avoid risky attitudes towards population.