ACCORDING TO CONEVAL’S 2008 MULTIDIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY, 43.4 MILLION MEXICANS HAD NO ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

Within the framework of World Health Day, the CONEVAL provides information regarding the population without access to healthcare. According to the results of the Official Methodology for the Multidimensional Measurement of Poverty, in 2008, 43.4 million Mexicans (40.7 percent of the total population) had no access to healthcare, a fundamental element of the right to health protection guaranteed by Article 4 of the Mexican United States Political Constitution.

Out of the 47.2 million Mexicans in multidimensional poverty conditions, 25.4 million were deprived of access to healthcare (53.8 percent). Likewise, 18.0 million Mexicans whose income was sufficient to acquire the basic basket’s food and non food goods, didn’t count with healthcare either.

Out of the total population at national level, 59.3 percent had access to healthcare; from which, 30.7 percent was affiliated to the IMSS; 19.1 percent to Popular Insurance (Seguro Popular); 6.6 percent to the ISSSTE; 0.9 percent to Pemex, Defense or Marine, and 2.0 percent to other healthcare providers, which include private medical insurance.

At state level, the eleven federal states with the highest percentage of people without access to healthcare (from 40 to 60 percent) in 2008 were Puebla, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, State of México, Veracruz, Morelos and the Federal District (Capital City). These states concentrated almost two thirds (63%) of the population without access to healthcare.

According to the Official Methodology for the Multidimensional Measurement of Poverty, people with access to healthcare are those individuals who count with an affiliation to one of the following institutions or social programs:

Popular Insurance (Seguro Popular);
IMSS;
ISSSTE or State ISSSTE;
Pemex, Defense or Marina, and
Other healthcare providers, which include private medical insurance.

A person is in multidimensional poverty situation when his/her income is insufficient to acquire the goods and services he/she requires to fulfill his/her needs and has social deprivation of at least one of the following six social indicators:

Educational gap;
Access to healthcare;
Access to social security;
Home quality and spaces;
Basic services at home, and
Access to food.

Given the importance of these figures, it is suitable that the Federal Government established universal healthcare coverage as a national objective for the coming years. The most important challenge will be for the quality of said services to be adequate to the entire population.

The CONEVAL is an organization with technical and administrative autonomy whose responsibility is to regulate and coordinate the evaluation of National Social Development Policy and the policies, programs and actions executed by public dependencies.

The information generated in matters of evaluation of social development policy and programs, as well as poverty measurement, is available at the CONEVAL website (www.coneval.gob.mx) to be queried by any person who may be interested in doing so.