Mexico’s ‘northern’ public health system won’t become a reality in 2023

The problem is that in order to achieve close quality standards in the medical services provided in the Nordic countries, much more than goodwill is required, money is needed, a lot of money, The same thing that comes from public resources directed by governments.

If next year the country has a health system at the level of “what people deserve”, it should start directing much more resources than is currently being seen, otherwise the goal simply and simply will not be achieved

In order not to get into a barrage of numbers that are just baffling, let’s make comparisons of the percentages allocated by some states that excel more than others in high-quality public health services.

Nordic system, first-class, but expensive

The Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) are, undoubtedly, a reference in public health services, and not for nothing during the first three years of the current administration they have been taken as a reference and goal for our country, although the minimum resemblance is not achieved with services of these countries.

But the countries involved allocate ample resources to fund these public health systems.

If the goal is to have a Nordic health system, we should spend on it as if we were a Nordic.

But how much do countries and some other countries with first-class health systems spend?

The Mexican health system versus the North

Let’s put the case of Mexico first. Last year, our country spent 5.3% of GDP on public health

The good news is that this percentage will go up this year, and the bad news is that it will be marginal because it will only go up to 5.4 percent.

The average public health GDP percentage has remained roughly constant for more than 20 years.

The last time there was a major rebound was in 2001, in the neoliberal period as they call it today, at which time the rate rose from 3.8 to 5 percent, and since then it has remained in very close ranges.

This current level of 5.4 percent is low, very low compared to what is spent in Nordic countries and other countries, on public health.

It is no secret that the OECD countries, which have the highest levels of insurance (social security) for their population, are also the biggest spenders on health, including many Nordic countries.

For example: Norway allocates 10.9 percent of its GDP to this sector; Denmark spends 11.2 percent; For its part, Sweden allocates 11.9 percent of its GDP.

Iceland, a small country of just under 400,000 people, realizes where the key to a world-class public health system lies and is spending 9.5 percent of its GDP to achieve this; The United Kingdom specializes in practice 10% of its gross domestic product goes to the public health system.

For its part, Finland, another Nordic reference country, spends 9.8 percent of its GDP on public health, and we don’t go far to another continent, we have the example of our trading partner, Canada, which allocates 10.7 percent of GDP to another continent . National Health System.

In the case of Mexico, due to budget cuts, the current level of GDP devoted to the health sector has deteriorated and It’s less than 6.2 percent, the historical maximum, recorded in the middle of Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration.

good wish

It’s not about criticism without rhyme or reason, and it’s not about the country’s desire to do bad, it’s simply the application of common sense.

At the beginning of the six-year period, Mexico was said to be worthy and would have a health system like that of the Nordic countries. Today it is said that in the following year, ie in 2023, there will be a public health system at the level of “what people deserve”.

This or that concept cannot be realized with the spending levels that the state currently has in public health systems.

It has been proven for decades in the Nordic countries that achieving effective health systems requires extensive investment, and the rest is wishful thinking. In 2023 we won’t have a Nordic health system and the concept of “what people deserve” is very vague, but the next year we will have something similar to what we see today, and public investment levels leave no room for doubt.

For 2023, the federal government proposes spending 892,849 million pesos, an increase of 4.2% over 2022, but it is clearly not enough to meet the country’s needs. To gauge how little public health spending is, next year Mexico will pay nearly 1 billion pesos in interest payments on public debt. In other words, we will spend more on public debt than on health.

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