Social security and family spending

The pandemic It continues to show how vulnerable we are when it comes to health and the danger that families are in of suffering a strong wealth imbalance. An expense due to accident or illness can cause a financial breakdown from which you cannot get out for many years.

Faced with a serious health problem, families do not have much choice, since most citizens cover these expenses directly from their monthly budget, drastically affecting their personal finances.

The alternatives in cases of accidents or major illnesses are to have private health insurance where only approximately 10% of Mexicans have this protection.

A second option is to use public services such as IMSS, ISSSTE and some other institutions which have more and more limitations and whose appointments for care are delayed for months and do not have the minimum required supplies; Or, the third option is to face these contingencies with the so-called out-of-pocket expenses, which have a strong and direct impact on the family economy.

Given the cost of health insurance and the scarce and bad financing of the public health system, it turns out that an obligation of the Mexican State and a constitutional right such as social security now falls on the budget of Mexican families. In other words, given the evident crisis in the public health system and the lack of financing for medical equipment and supplies, the family has become the most important social security institution in the country, which is aberrational and unfair because the family, in instead of being a beneficiary of social security, she is now the financier of it.

The Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF) through its National Social Security Technical Committeehas analyzed this case together with various institutions and specialists in the sector and has generated proposals, both so that social security financing is used properly in pensions, education, health, work and housing, as well as so that public policies are consistent to support the most vulnerable people, in accordance with the social vision that the IMEF has and that it has promoted for years.

As long as government financing for social security is not adequate and well used, and public policies are not congruent between saying and acting, the financial support of the health system will continue to fall into the pocket of the people and, therefore, causing many families to go bankrupt financially, having to acquire endless debts to pay their health expenses.

The pandemic generated average private care expenses of almost 450,000 pesos per patient, reaching several million pesos in some cases. People who were able to use private insurance had that benefit; however, many others had to use the limited and scant public services or pay private hospital expenses out of their family budget and it is clear, given the amounts mentioned, that many families overdraw and were left with a bankruptcy in their finances. that they will not be able to cover, nor by selling part of their patrimony.

The Social Security System should protect families and therefore, our Constitution establishes it as a guarantee and citizen right, to be a support for the population and become a solution to the risks and contingencies to which society is exposed. For this reason, institutions such as the IMSS o ISSSTEamong many others and that are not fully meeting their objective.

It is imperative and urgent that Social Security be applied with quality, that its financing be real and sufficient, and that it reach all Mexicans in medicines, laboratories, equipment, and support for medical personnel. In the same way, that public health policies become a real practice to protect families and stop being the electoral rhetoric that they have become.

As long as Social Security continues to be financed from the family budget and the State does not comply with this obligation, the population will continue to suffer the consequences, affecting the poorest people in the country more and causing deaths that could have been avoided.

The alternatives in cases of accidents or major illnesses are to have private health insurance where only 10% of Mexicans have this protection”

The pandemic generated average private care expenses of almost 450,000 pesos per patient, reaching several million pesos in some cases.

Jorge Barba Pingarrón is President of the National Social Security Technical Committee of the IMEF