Healthcare spending and life expectancy still low in Mexico

 31-Dec-14, OECD

Total health spending accounted for 6.2% of GDP in Mexico in 2012, among the lowest shares of OECD countries (only Estonia and Turkey spend less) and well below the OECD average of 9.3%.

As a result of greatly expanded health coverage for the poor and uninsured in Mexico since 2004, the public share of health care financing in Mexico has increased by around 10 percentage points to stand at 50% in 2012. This remains one of the lowest across OECD countries (where the average is 72%), and around half of all health spending in Mexico is paid directly by patients.

Health spending growth in Mexico has tended to follow the overall pattern of OECD countries since 2004. After a steep drop in household spending in 2011 as a consequence of the economic slump in Mexico, there was a significant increase in health spending in 2012, particularly in the hospital sector.

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