Does Mexico have National Healthcare?

[bif]

We were discussing it here at work. I said I thought they did. Anyone know? If you have a link to info that would be great.

[Finder]

1. Yes, here are a couple of links...

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-womexi164935437oct16,0,6421326.story?coll=ny-health-print

http://www.internationalliving.com/mexico/healthcare.html

[bif]

4. Thank you

Wow, sounds like their system is way better than ours. Actually I'm not surprised.

[Warpy]

2. They do, but it doesn't cover everybody because.

It requires payment up front and the fees are increasing every year. Too many people in Mexico are too poor to afford it, although they're still guaranteed coverage by law. De facto and de jure are two separate things.

"The cost? Every individual pays a set rate depending on his or her age. The price structure is as follows:

* 0-19 $1062
* 20-39 $1242
* 40-59 $1856
* 60+ $2792 "

http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/KLM/klm0306.html

As you can see, the elderly are encouraged by escalating premiums to go off and die quietly.

The initials are I.M.S.S. The joke is that it stands for "Inimportante Madre Su Salud," or "your health is an unimportant matter."

A particularly scathing indictment of the multi tiered, patchwork system is at http://wais.stanford.edu/Mexico/mexico_publichealth8803.html

[Selatius]

6. I bet the Repubs will use Mexico as an example against universal health care

They would point to it and say, "See, look how inefficient the system really is!" They'd adopt the motto of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

[Finder]

7. Those rates don't seem right...unless that is in pesos. n/t

[Waya]

3. I think they do......somewhat at least......

......it's something called IMSS if I remember correctly. You might want to 'google' it and see what you can find.

[bif]

5. From the article...

So far, 22 million Mexicans have. Families pay an annual premium from $65 to $1,000, according to their income level, but poor families, the bottom 20 percent in terms of income, are exempt. "