More Mexicans are left without access to hospitals

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) presented the results of its assessments of poverty and the population without access to health services for the period 2018-2024 in the country. The good news is that the number of people living in poverty increased from 51.9 million to 38.5 million. The bad news is that the number of Mexicans without medical care or prescription drugs increased from 20.1 million to 44.5 million.

The problems in the health system coincide with the disappearance of Seguro Popular (Popular Insurance) and the subsequent creation and dismantling of Insabi (National Institute of Social Security), which affected access to healthcare for the poorest, said Lourdes Maisterrena, a researcher at the Universidad Panamericana. “(Seguro Popular) allowed people with limited resources to access healthcare services, and with these disappearances, although an organization was created to address this shortcoming (IMSS-Bienestar), it has not had the impact or reach to cover healthcare services for the poorest.”

This increase highlights the problems the country faces, including a lack of infrastructure, doctors, and medication shortages, particularly for cancer treatment. This led to protests by patients and their families last weekend in cities such as Guadalajara, Cancún, Uruapan, Aguascalientes, León, Toluca, and Mexico City.

In the case of Jalisco, the federal government had supplied only 13% of the prescriptions for cancer medications as of July 27, according to the State Health Secretariat. The federal government promises to regulate the supply of medicines between August 15 and 20, according to the civil organization Nariz Roja.

Another failure of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's previous administration was the Mega Farmacia del Bienestar (Mega Pharmacy of Well-being), launched in December 2023 at a cost of more than 10 billion pesos, without managing to regulate the supply of cancer medicines.

According to the INEGI study, Chiapas, Puebla, Morelos, Oaxaca, and the State of Mexico were the states with the greatest lack of access to health services, while Jalisco ranked 16th, below the national average.

Although Jalisco has not joined Insabi or IMSS-Bienestar since the last six-year term, it launched the Health Insurance Program to guarantee access to care and medicines for the population without social security. As of last June, more than 520,000 people were enrolled in this state program.

Máximo Jaramillo, a professor at the UdeG's Inequalities Observatory, considered that the INEGI measurements should not be compared with those implemented by CONEVAL (a now-defunct organization), noting that the methodology had changed. However, he clarified that "there have been no major budgetary changes" that would allow for an increase in the number of people with access to healthcare in the last two years.

Regarding the reduction in the poverty population, experts attribute it to an increase in the minimum wage, improved family incomes, labor reforms, and social programs.

Ricardo Fletes, a professor at the University of Granada (UdeG), opined that the actions of governments, particularly the federal government, are not focused on combating the conditions that cause poverty, such as the lack of access to medical services, basic services, or housing. "They are directing these actions and policies toward combating the poor, but not poverty; that is, they are reducing the number of poor people, but not the conditions that generate poverty."