Eps 1: Health in Mexico
Mexico's public healthcare operates through the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social (IMSS) and Seguro Popular systems.
Expats utilising private healthcare for non-emergency treatment will avoid the waiting periods that are commonly associated with the public system.
Many private ambulances operate in Mexico which eases the demand placed on public emergency services.
Host
Jonathan Ruiz
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This means that Americans traveling to Mexico are only allowed to experience one aspect of the country's health care system. The World Health Organization defines universal health care as a program that ensures that all people in a country have access to the same health care as their counterparts in the United States without suffering financially. In Mexico, Mexicans live in poverty or just below the poverty line, according to a recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mexico's health care system is touted as completely free, but patients are facing a very different reality, owing to the continuing impact of high care costs and lack of access to health insurance.
On January 1, a new government agency tasked with providing medical care to millions of Mexicans without health insurance began operations. Patients who qualify for the Insabi programme, even if they are not covered by the IMSS or ISSTE social security schemes, will be charged for their hospital stays. Expats and travelers can further reduce their healthcare costs by taking out comprehensive health insurance.
Indeed, the quality and low cost of Mexican health care have led many US citizens, especially those without insurance, to go to Mexico for years to find cheaper treatment. The Mexican health system, many Americans come to Mexico to undergo treatment. Most people who do not have insurance find health care in Mexico better because of the high quality of health care and the low cost of health care in the US.
Mexico has universal health care, which means that all its citizens and residents are entitled to free health care. Depending on citizenship and employment status, there are different programs in the public sector. While public health is affordable and relatively efficient, private hospitals are more unified and offer specialized facilities and procedures.
While health insurance seems elusive in Mexico, the country's private and public health programs are easily accessible to citizens and residents alike. The Mexican government subsidizes public health in Mexico through the Ministry of Health.
This guide covers the various health services and how they are made available to patients, as well as information on upcoming public and private health plans in Mexico.
These services include those paid for by most people in the United States and parts of Europe, as well as those operated independently. In general, people can access health services within their networks, but some operate independently and pay for services outside their networks.
The Ministry of Health has taken key steps to put in place an appropriate system to ensure that unemployed citizens receive adequate medical care. Mexican companies operating in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, and other cities and municipalities are entitled to health care through the national health insurance system.
This underscores the importance of health care in areas that still need work, such as rural areas, rural communities, and the urban-rural divide.
Over the past decade, the percentage of Mexicans suffering from impoverished health care costs has fallen from 3.3% to 0.8%. The CDC survey found there was an increase in the number of families struggling to pay their medical bills in 2016.
Mexico's total health-care spending, $1.5 billion in 2016, is more than double that of the United States, compared to the US as a whole. This is because poverty is widespread and many people are forced to defer care due to lack of access to health insurance or other costs such as deductibles.
The doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals who work in Mexico's private hospitals are exceptionally well trained and generally have access to the latest equipment and technologies in medicine. Private hospitals can be considered hospitals because they have laboratories, X-ray machines and even nurses. Wealthy people who still travel from the US for some types of very specialized treatment (Houston, Texas, for example, is home to one of the largest hospitals in the United States, the University of Texas Health Science Center) are expected to receive a very high level of health care.
Although the US system is very different from that of Mexico, there is a similar situation in the United States in publicly funded health care, as observed by the separation of Medicare and Medicaid. Although Mexico offers patients the option of going to a private hospital in Mexico City or the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, there may be times when a medical evacuation is necessary and preferable to on-site medical treatment.
The social security sector consists of various institutions that cater for different areas of the formal labour market. The organizational structure is vertically integrated, but the much larger one is the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).