Health System In Mexico

The health system in Mexico is the result of a long evolution of almost 60 years. However, at the beginning of this decade that had a major system inequity: almost 50% of the total population of country was without any health coverage. This is due to the major inequality that exists between poor and rich people. The poor people have more difficulties accessing to health care while the rich peoplehave easier. Life expectancy in Mexico for males is 73 year whereas in females is 78 years. Mortality rate under five is 17% and the probability of dying between 15 and 60 years is 122 per 1000 population. Maternal mortality ratio per 100000 live births is 50 and prevalence of HIV per 1000 adults’ aged 15 to 49 is 3 (WHO Mexico).
In 1994, life expectancy at birth in Mexico was 71.6 years. Inthat year, for every 100 deaths, 24 were due to diseases communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional, 63 to non communicable diseases, and 13 accidental and intentional injuries, all of which translates into an average loss of 2 months healthy life due to disability and premature death for every Mexican. The most common illness were pneumonia, intestinal infectious diseases, heart disease,cerebrovascular disease chronic bronchitis and emphysema, anemia and congenital anomalies (Bethesda, 1998).
Structurally, the health care system in Mexico is public and private. The public sector includes social security institutions (IMSS), the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE), PEMEX, Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), Navy Secretariat (SEMARNAT) and others,that provide services to workers in the formal sector of the economy, and the institutions that protect and serve the population without social security, among which are included the Popular Health Insurance (SPS), the Secretariat of Health (SSA), the State Health Services (SHS) and the IMSS-Opportunities (IMSS-O). The private sector provides services to people with ability to pay. The financingof social security institutions from three sources: government contributions, employer contributions and employee contributions (Salud Publica de Mexico).
About three million wealthy and middle class Mexicans (and foreigners working in Mexico) pay private insurers to gain access to high-quality, state of the art medical services. Many Mexicans who are insured through the public insurance systemalso pay out of pocket for private care to get better service. Mexico's private sector is booming. New clinics and specialized hospitals are growing rapidly in Mexico City, Guadalajara and especially Monterrey. In addition, About 50 million salaried Mexicans pay into an insurance scheme, along with their employers and the government, through the Institute of Social Security. The employee pays aprogressive amount, according to his or her wage. The institute runs its own primary care units and state hospitals for insured workers, although the quality varies considerably. Critics say some establishments are not properly managed and lack adequate equipment. Finally, about 17 million state employees have a separate, parallel scheme that they pay into through the Institute of Security andSocial Services for State Workers. They also have their own clinics and hospitals (Whyte, 2009).
Mexico has 4000 hospitals. The 1000 public hospitals have 75% of the beds; 90% of the 3000 private hospitals have less than 20 beds, often as few as less than 5 beds. In fact, some “private hospitals” can hardly be considered hospitals at all, since they have no laboratories, radiography equipment, oreven nurses. The system also includes 20,000 primary care facilities (Ruelas, 2002). However, since the year 2000, government began working in health care in Mexico and improve the system.
Public health-care spending in Mexico is rising, but it still has one of the lowest per capita expenditures among OECD countries, with just 6.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). That worked out to about...