Universal Health Care, not “Obamacare”

Angela Kocherga of KENS-5 (San Antonio)  as you’d expect from a U.S. television reporter to do, files a story from Mexico that I suppose could be said to have something to do with drugs and U.S. citizens coming to grief… but only sorta.

One thing Ms. Kocherga says that might be unintentionally misleading is in saying that employees get their insurance through their company.  Well… yeah, but unlike the U.S., where if an employer even offers health insurance, it’s bought from another company, then somehow applied to your taxes as an offset.  Here, the insurance is through the Mexican Institute of Social Security, and the employer payment is just a payroll tax.

Seguro Popular covers everyone else — to put it in U.S. terms, it’s just expanded Medicare.  Between the two government programs, 95 percent of Mexicans have health insurance.

IMSS covers more and can be self-paid (a 60 year old male pays about 250 dollars a year), but is not always an option for foreign residents, since IMSS has won’t cover those with certain pre-existing conditions and age restrictions.  Seguro Popular is very basic health insurance, but still puts U.S. insurance to shame.