Mexico City – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said last week that his administration aims for all of Mexico to be covered by the IMSS-Bienestar health program by the first half of 2023. With this, the federal government would assume control of the public health service around the country. This move aims to improve healthcare services in Mexico, said López Obrador.
“We hope that this year we will have 13 to 15 states and that in the first half of next year we will have all the states. We also want to make it clear that it is voluntary. If a state government does not accept, there is no problem. We are going to continue transferring the resources that by law correspond to them,” said López Obrador during a visit to Tlaxcala. He added that there will be no retaliation to any state that does not want to be part of the IMSS-Bienestar program.
As of August 2022, only Nayarit, Tlaxcala and Colima are affiliated to IMSS-Bienestar, while Oaxaca and Sonora are undergoing the affiliation process, which is reportedly taking longer than originally expected.
The process to affiliate states’ healthcare services to IMSS-Bienestar is taking place as most public institutions grapple with the lack of specialists. “The dream that we are going to turn into reality is that by next year [there will be] quality healthcare for all the people in Mexico. That is the purpose. It is taking a little bit of work to get the doctors, not so much the general practitioners but specialists,” said López Obrador.