Health

A decade after the introduction of the Popular Health Insurance Scheme, the national insurance programme, Mexico has made tremendous progress toward attaining universal coverage, albeit limited. The country is now striving to guarantee universal access to health care, not an easy feat for a fragmented system suffering from decades of under-spending. While the sector reform announced by the government in 2013 has taken a backseat in the context of fiscal constraints, steps to increase integration among public institutions and between the public and private sectors continue, as part of a countrywide effort to increase efficiency and curb rising costs. As a result, greater cooperation among public institutions and between the public and private sectors should be expected in the coming years. Meanwhile, as standards of living improve, driving demand for health care services, Mexico will remain a key market in Latin America, providing opportunities for drug and device manufacturers.

This chapter includes interviews with Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, Managing Director, Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) and Sandra Sánchez y Oldenhage, Director-General, PROBIOMED.