Health Care System of Oaxaca-Mateo

The health care system in Mexico has been steadily increasing over the past century.  The health care system is comprised of a mix between publicly available health care and privatized hospitals.  Around 2/3 of the hospitals in Mexico are run by private companies where you have to pay all costs out of pocket, or get insurance to cover them.  The other third of hospitals are hospitals that are funded by the government. The Federal government of Mexico has long had a policy of subsidizing health care costs depending on how much money you make.  For example, a poor unemployed person would have any medical attention they need fully paid for.  Two years ago, the government passed legislation guaranteeing universal health care to all citizens no matter what.

The quality of Mexican health care is very high.  Many Mexican doctors are trained in the US, and vice versa, so the Mexican health care system is often compared to the United States' in terms of quality and reliability of care.  However, Mexico's health care system is significantly cheaper than in the US, so many poor people in Mexico can still afford health care with government help.  Mexican health care is so cheap that many people who live in Texas and California often go into Mexico for health care, especially for things like dental work and plastic surgery, because costs are often a fraction of what they are in the US.

The overall health of the Mexican population has been on the rise over the past fifty years.  Infant mortality rate has gone down, which means that infants are surviving more which is usually an indicator of better diet and less presence of disease.  Also, the life expectancy has been going up and the overall prevalence of diseases has been going down.  However, Mexico still has a problem with heart diseases and other problems like obesity.  When the swine flu epidemic happened in the late 2000's, Mexico was applauded for the way their hospitals handled the situation and contained the disease very well, in large part to well trained doctors and nurses and also good sanitation of hospitals.  In general, the Mexican health care system is effective for most of the population.  Poorer, rural people can sometimes have to travel a long way for medical attention, but otherwise the system is good for all citizens.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Mexico