Health · Healthcare & Policy · 7 hrs ago
Mexico’s health coverage gap widens as 44.5 million lack access
A study of Mexico’s health system, covering 2000 to 2025, says 44.5 million people lacked access to health services in 2024, up from 20.1 million in 2020.
The researchers say the system remains split between formal and informal workers, with different funding and rules for access to care.
Mexico has made major reforms, including Seguro Popular, INSABI and IMSS-Bienestar, but the study says they have not resolved this division or chronic underfunding.
The loss of public coverage has led nearly half of Mexican families to use private services, often clinics next to pharmacies.
From 2014 to 2024, catastrophic health spending rose by 73%, and in 2024 more than 5.7 million households spent over 30% of their ability to pay on care or fell below the poverty line because of medical costs.
The researchers say reducing fragmentation is essential to make coverage more equal, but the study does not describe a specific next step.
Mexico’s population without access to health services rose from 20.1 million in 2020 to 44.5 million in 2024, according to a new report.
The report says the share of households in municipalities with the greatest social disadvantage that lacked health coverage increased from 6.2% in 2018 to 62.7% in 2024.
The distance from universal coverage, measured as the share of the population not covered, reached 36.2% in 2025 after falling to 4.9% in 2018.
The study identifies fragmented funding and chronic underfunding as longstanding problems in Mexico’s health system.
More than 5.7 million households spent over 30% of their ability to pay on health care or fell below the poverty line because of those costs in 2024.
- Who
- Mexico’s population, including 44.5 million people without access to health services in 2024.
- What
- A report documents widening gaps in health coverage and rising household health costs.
- When
- The report examines the health system from 2000 to 2025; the latest figures cited include 2025.
- Where
- Mexico.
- Why
- The report identifies fragmented health financing and chronic underfunding as unresolved structural problems.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The share of households in the most socially disadvantaged municipalities without health coverage was 6.2%.
The number of people without access to health services was 20.1 million.
The number without access reached 44.5 million, and 62.7% of households in the most socially disadvantaged municipalities lacked coverage.
The share of the population not covered reached 36.2%, up from 4.9% in 2018.
- People without access
- 44.5 million in 2024
- Territorial coverage gap
- 62.7% of households in the most socially disadvantaged municipalities lacked coverage in 2024
- Uncovered population
- 36.2% in 2025
- Households facing high health costs
- More than 5.7 million in 2024
- Rise in catastrophic or excessive health spending
- 73% from 2014 to 2024
What people are saying
In a just society, we cannot allow income or privileges of origin to determine people’s opportunities for health care.
High levels of fragmentation are consistently associated with lower equity, greater impoverishing expenditure and worse health outcomes for the population.
The general purpose of this project is to generate evidence and public goods for decision-making.