3 Responses to “What Are Some Unique Qualities Of The Mexican Health Care System?”

1. 

   mstrywmn said on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 17:21

   I never knew that Mexico had a health care system.
2. 

   :) said on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 17:41

   Health care in Mexico is provided by either public or private institutions. Private health care operates entirely on the free-market system, i.e., it is available to those who can afford it, and is provided by private institutions. Public health care, on the other hand, is provided to all Mexican citizens as guaranteed via Article 4 of the Constitution. Public care is either fully or partially subsidized by the federal government, depending on the person’s employment status.
   All Mexican citizens are eligible for subsidized health care regardless of their work status via a system of health care facilities operating under the federal Secretariat of Health (formely the Secretaria de Salubridad y Asistencia, or SSA) agency. Employed citizens and their dependents, however, are further eligible to use the health care program administered and operated by the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) (English: Mexican Social Security Institute).
   The IMSS is a tripartite system funded equally by private employees, private employers, and the federal government. The IMSS does not provide service to public sector employees.
   Aggregate health statistics have improved greatly since the 1970s. However, Mexico lags well behind other OECD countries in health status and health care availability.
   Total health care spending accounted for 6.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005; per capita spending on health care was US$675 (adjusted for purchasing power parity)—about a quarter of the OECD average.
   During 2005, 45.5 percent of health spending was paid from public sources—comparable to the share of public spending in the United States but significantly below the OECD average. Private financing in Mexico is almost entirely in the form of out-of-pocket payments, as only 3.1 percent of total expenditures on health are funded through private health insurance.
   Consistent with every other major industrialized country (except the U.S.), government healthcare in Mexico is universal, making private programs unnecessary except for use in private hospitals. And, although Mexico has some 3000 private hospitals, some private “hospitals” can hardly be considered hospitals at all, since they have no laboratories, radiography equipment, or even nurses.
   The remaining 1000 or some public hospitals account for the majority of hospital beds and, in fact, the bulk of private hospitals are institutions with less than 20 beds.
   In 2005 Mexico had 1.8 doctors and 2.2 nurses per 1,000 population, a significant increase in health care personnel over the previous decade but again below the OECD averages for these indicators.
3. 

   super_fo said on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 21:15

   i have also heard that they have some special qualities with them to keep their health perfectly. i still i couldn’t tackle them. still struggling.