1887

OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Mexico 2016

image of OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Mexico 2016

Ten years after the introduction of publically-funded universal health insurance, the Mexican health system finds itself at a critical juncture. Unquestionably, some measures of health and health system performance have improved: those previously uninsured now use health services more often, whilst numbers reporting impoverishing health expenditure having fallen from 3.3% to 0.8%. Other indicators, however, remain worrying. Rates of survival after heart attack or stroke are markedly worse than in other OECD countries. Prevention is a particular concern: with 32% of the adult population obese, Mexico ranks as the second most obese nation in the OECD and almost 1 in 6 adults are diabetic. Other key metrics imply deep-rooted inefficiencies in the system: administrative costs, at 8.9% of total health spending, are the highest in the OECD and have not reduced over the past decade. Likewise, out-of-pocket spending has stuck at nearly 50% of total health spending - the highest in the OECD - and implies that individuals feel the need to visit private clinic despite having health insurance. In short, Mexico’s massive public investment in its health system has failed to translate into better health and health system performance to the extent wished and a programme of continued, extensive reform is needed. This report sets out the OECD’s recommendations on the steps Mexico should take to achieve this.

English Also available in: Spanish

Executive summary

Ten years after the introduction of publicly-funded universal health insurance, and its first OECD Health System Review, the Mexican health system has unquestionably made progress. With the introduction of Seguro Popular in 2004, some 50 million Mexicans previously at risk of unaffordable health care bills now have access to health insurance. Reports of recent impoverishing health expenditure have fallen from 3.3% to 0.8% of the population and key parameters such as infant mortality, and deaths from heart attacks or stroke, have improved. Serious and urgent challenges, however, have intensified. Between 2000 and 2012, rates of overweight or obesity increased from 62% to 71% of the adult population; one in three children is already overweight or obese. More than 15% of adults have diabetes - more than double the OECD average of 6.9%.

English Also available in: Spanish

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error