R. Mirandaocampo et al., INEQUALITIES IN THE USE OF HEALTH-SERVICE S FOR THE NON-INSURED POPULATION IN MEXICO, Salud publica de Mexico, 35(6), 1993, pp. 576-584
In order to assess the coverage of health services for non-insured pop
ulation receiving health care from the Ministry of Health (SSA), a cro
ss-sectional study was developed. With oficial statistics Of SSA and d
ata froM the XI General Census of Population and Housing (1990), ratio
s of coverage and mortality rates in hospitals were assessed. The data
were processed through simple analysis. In addition, states were stra
tified by groups according to poverty indicators obtained through a fa
ctorial analysis with the method of multiple components. The results s
howed that a polarized health economy for the non-insured population i
n Mexico is the cause of complex difficulties in the health care provi
sion. The low financial resources affect the distribution of health ca
re services in the states. Seventy six per cent of the non-insured pop
ulation is concentrated in those states with the highest levels of pov
erty, with a potential coverage of only 34.2 per cent and just 63.4 pe
r cent of potential population use. The coverage of health care servic
es in the states with lower poverty indicators is 1.9 times that of th
e states with higher poverty indicators. It was also observed that hos
pital mortality rate among children less than one year old was 1.7 tim
es higher in poor regions. In general, the health services coverage is
low. Therefore, it is necesary to expand the access to health care an
d improve the quality of services as well as life conditions of the po
pulation in the states with the highest poverty indicators. If this oc
curs, it will be possible to close the gap in order to build a better
National Health System.