INEQUALITIES IN THE USE OF HEALTH-SERVICE S FOR THE NON-INSURED POPULATION IN MEXICO

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.