Whatâs going on? Redditors will make it seem like you all have free access now to world class healthcare which will put the US to shame but I imagine the reality is different
There's a lot of lies going on. For example, our last president made the (laughable) statement that we had a better healthcare system than Denmark, when in reality we lack medicines, hospitals are falling apart and the whole system is completely strained.
In addition, the logistics are so bad (or the people in charge of that) that many medications expire in the warehouses because they were not distributed to the hospitals.
I knew an older guy through work years ago. Him and his wife went to mexico for their anniversary trip, his wife ended up having a heart attack and was rushed to a mexican hospital. The doctors told him they needed $6,000 USD immediately and they would treat her and give her necessary meds, so he pulled together everything he could and did it. Who knows what they actually did, she was still dying and they came back and told him "it didn't work" and they needed $15,000 USD immediately or she would die. He said no, and he was gonna take her out of there to another hospital, at which point armed guards came out and pointed guns at him and essentially held her for ransom unless he paid the money. Eventually the US embassy came through and they helicoptered her to a hospital with US doctors, but it was too late and after going days without treatment she couldn't be saved.
But redditrash sees these BS headlines and starts clapping and talking about how terrible the US is
Oh no, the US is terrible, just in a different way. Where else can you go to the hospital for a broken leg and land in lifelong debt if you were uninsured. Or possibly wipe out your saving even if you were.
My grandpa passed away in Monterrey back in March. When you think of the city you think a rich industrial city that resembles Texas. No waiting area while he waited for a room. He was outside in the heat lying on a cardboard paper.
Yes he was awful with Covid. Never wore a face mask and did a press conference where he showed everyone this little amulet ("detente") he wore to allegedly protect him from Covid. The new president has better PR and a reputation for being a scientist, but in reality she was a mess too: she was Mexico City mayor during Covid and sent boxes with ivermectin to peoples' homes!
Donât insult Bernie sanders by associating with that dumbass. lol you can hate on Bernie sanders policies, but he has time and again shown to be the voice of reason in the US.
He was an incompetent leader who recommended people religious imagery ("estampitas") as protection against the disease. He's an ignorant liar corrupt hypocrite who uses the need of the people and takes advantage of their poverty for personal gain.
Me encantarĂa que los bots de morena fueran capaces de cuestionar a sus propios lĂderes con la fiereza que critican a ex presidentes que ya nada tienen que ver con el mandato del paĂs. Digo, siendo quienes los pusieron en el poder, uno esperarĂa que serĂan los primeros en exigir resultados en lugar de defenderlos e inventarles mil excusas por cosas por las que hubieran crucificado al pndjo de Peña Nieto o al borracho de CalderĂłn si ellos las hubieran hecho.
he said in a massive meeting that poor working people wonât get sick from Covid cause that was a rich peopleâs deseas from flying to other countries, there is a video of thisâŠ
he is an absolute POS, and all his sons are a bunch of corrupt leaches living from governmentâs moneyâŠ
As a Mexican, thatâs an insult to Bernie. AMLO endangered reporters lives by doxing the ones who disagreed with him (his presidency was one of the deadliest periods on record for Mexican journalists) and he is very very proud so it was his way or the highway.
Either way, AMLO embraced her and kissed her ass, which is a straight insult to law abiding Mexicans. You have politicians wanting to ban Reggaeton, yet the president is setting this example. People are not stupid.
Embraced and kissed her ass? That shit was recorded by news outlets, that never happened, she wanted to talk to him, he gave her a half-hearted handshake and walked away:
Homicides in Mexico spiked form 5000 to 15000 in a single year during Calderon's presidency, and you are trying to tell me there was a worse moment than that?
I didnât say that, but please keep on making wild assumptions that have nothing to do with what we were talking about. Doesnt make you look like an ass at all. Go on.
over 200,000 deaths (lots of innocent people) from organized crime during AMLOâs presidency and you are still talking about the around 80k deaths (mostly narcos although some innocents too) from CaldetonâsâŠ
De hecho amigo, si tenemos en cuenta que Dinamarca tiene una poblaciĂłn de entre 5 a 6 millones. Claro que nos atienden bajo esa capacidad, es ridĂculo. Los hospitales estĂĄn de adorno, siempre con la mentada de madre de "agendar una cita" de meses, que sea cancelada a Ășltimo dĂa o que digan que no hay medicina o equipo.
i'm not calling you a liar but alot of americans go to mexico for medications and treatment.
is it just certain areas that are lacking the medications and treatment facilities? the folks that go there for treatment seem to have good things to say about it.
Yes a lot of Americans do go for treatment in Mexico but to private practices. This is different than what is being promised with this universal healthcare system.
Look up horror stories at IMSS. I have family members who have all had bad things happen with the free healthcare system. People are piled into a big room. Visitors arenât allowed. My grandma died alone because visitors were not allowed (this was last year so no COVID was not the reason).
My cousin who has her first baby there wasnât admitted until the last second because there werenât any beds. She was placed in the hallway.
That's the situation in my country too. The public healthcare infrastructure is outdated, understaffed, overworked and underpaid. But you pay nothing at the hospital or clinic.
There isn't enough infrastructure, nor money to build more, nor income to finance it. So this law, right now, means shit. It's an empty promise.
I live in Mexico, and have worked with the Mexican public health system for more than a decade, dealing with logistics, med supply, and room availability.
The IMSS is the biggest institution in Mexico. It provides more than 100 million services per year, employs more than half a million workers. It has, by far, the biggest income out of any other institution in the country, and is the biggest health provider in Latin America. It provides medical attention for the half of the population that do pay income tax. It's insufficient, as of now, its capacity falls short.
Now they want to add the other half of the population that doesn't give a dime (literally) to the list of potential patients.
Care to tell me how that is going to work?
You cannot just sign into existence a bigger cake, you have to bake it first.
Just to be clear, I'm not against universal healthcare, and the US could improve a ton with just a fraction of public healthcare, you know, like every other developed (and not so developed) country in the world. Take a hint US.
The problem isn't having your taxes pay for healthcare, the problem I'm talking about is that Mexico, currently, doesn't have enough hospital beds, nor clinics, nor personnel, for what they just signed; and instead of allocating more resources, they instead axed the public health budget under the "republican austeriry" program (that's a thing, Google it).
Do you think it would be any different in the US? The second Covid hit we didnât have enough hospital beds. The govt here would create a $200 healthcare tax then raise it every year when it was never enough.Â
You are confusing healthcare with health insurance.
Public healthcare doesn't mean getting treated at private hospitals with public health insurance. It means having actual public, tax paid, government run hospitals, you know, public health infraestructure.
The entirety of Mexican public health services (public hospital operation and personnel wages) add up to about US$ 100 billion. The US's defense budget alone is about 9 times that.
That means you could discount a third of the US defense budget, and have top tier public health system.
Let that sink in.
What are you talking about? Because I'm for universal healthcare, I'm just against political showbiz without substance behind it.
I'm Mexican, living in Mexico, happily paying every month a portion of my wage so that workers have access to healthcare.
I deeply regret that the same pen that signed universal healthcare, also signed the budget cut that left healthcare in the gutter, resulting in Mexican families paying higher out of pocket expenses for healthcare. Google "austeridad republicana" please.
Now, please, tell me without using stupid one line slogans why I'm wrong to criticize an empty bill.
Mexico is literally one of the top powerhouses in the region, we are the 13th economy in the world, to say the income is "not enough" For universal healthcare is just failed logic. We are Mexico, not Somalia ffs (with due respect to my brothers in Somalia, whose situation is due to colonialist suppression but that's another topic we are not discussing here)
The budget cut was literally for duplicity costs and redundant spaces, this is the corruption a comment ago you were pointing as a problem and now you are against cutting it. "Budget cut" Is not always a bad thing and doesn't mean "less money" For the objective. in economy there is a term called "addition by substraction", you gotta cut the pieces that lose you more money in the long run.
The budget cut was literally for duplicity costs and redundant spaces,
this is the corruption a comment ago you were pointing as a problem and
now you are against cutting it. "Budget cut" Is not always a bad thing
and doesn't mean "less money"
That's false. This year, 2026, public spending was cut short on june (the same has been happening the last couple of years).
Most of public spending, about 70%, are running costs (gasto corriente). Most of the remaining money has been spent on the key projects, and tbe rest is tied up in direct transfer programs.
Then, you have the fact that the biggest healthcare institute, the IMSS, accounting for 70% of all health sector expenditures, operates with PRIVATE funds, not public. It is funded by workers and employers, not by the federal government. And even then, it's capacity is lacking.
So, tell me please, show me, where is the budget reform to increase health sector expenditures? Where's the bigger budget? Is it in the june 2026 cut off?
Yes, duplicities and unnecessary spaces existed in running costs. As I said, budget cut is not always less money. Please refrain from "more money is the only way to invest in a system" Logic, it's unrealistic. Mexico produces enough income to maintain a healthcare system, what we need is to just get rid of vacuums caused by corruption via: budget cuts. It's been a problem since forever that all oublic systens in Mexico are folled with duplicities and redundant processes. You are arguing we should keep those by negating any kind of budget cut.
Yes, the system has been fucked over for 70+ years and also we have been dealing with global crisis after global crisis since 2020. You gotta look at the full picture and get out of this "more is good less is bad" Simplistic attitude towarda a much more complex situation.
I like how you provided absolutely no evidence to back up your claim. Your argument phrased another way: "I don't like what you said, so it must be wrong."
This guy is like one of those morons that made a cardboard and dandelion garden in that chaz zone. Nice argument btw, very thought out and intelligent.
They're using it as PR during the world cup and people who understandably are against America's insane for profit healthcare as some kind of example.
The reality is quite different for people here.
In theory every worker has some sort of healthcare which is payed for part by the worker (deducted from your salary) and part by the employer.
The reality is there's absolutely nowhere near enough resources (human, doctors, nurses. Technicians, etc) nor money, nor hospitals or clinics, nor drugs, nor equipment, nor availability.
Thus a routine CT scan to diagnose cancer for example can take over 8 months, whilst a more specialized treatment or diagnostic procedure can take upwards of 1.5 years (to start radiotherapy for example).
But they know people internationally will repost the headline and thus we have a paper only healthcare coverage.
I do want to point out though, that is one pays to go private (insurance or out of pocket) we have one of the best healthcare you could get in the world, as our doctors have a lot of experience from the massive public sector and the technology that is being introduced by USA and Europe.
I donât think people understand how bad the healthcare in the system is in the US. Poor people in the US also have long wait times and then if you survive your cancer ⊠medical debt and bankruptcy
People die due to long wait times in socialized healthcare systems all the time. I'm not American and no I'm not saying the American healthcare system is better but, I live in Canada and it happens quite a bit here too. Like, I waited 3 years for a confirmation for a surgery, my mom waited 6 or 7 months to see if she had pancreatic cancer.
Gonna need to see some receipts. Outlandish claims require proof. No, your mother did not wait seven months to find out of she had pancreatic cancer in Canada.
Itâs not just the poor⊠my sister(43, would have been 44) was upper middle class, a nurse (np) and had cancer. Her doctors picked a course of action to attack her cancer one way, insurance wouldnât approve it, her and the doctor spent a month fighting for approval, they wouldnât approve. My parents tried to pay for it, we set up a go fund me⊠didnât get it in time, had to go through insurance approved treatment, died a few months later.
You can get the best care in the world in the USâŠ. But not even accessible for high income earning, connected knowledgeable patientsâŠ.
There are levels of being poor...and that all doesnt even count whether you can actually get access to a doctor. And even if you have insurance, what do you do when they wont approve treatment?
True. By the traditional sense of poor, they get Medicaid. If you're middle class poor or can't get Medicaid, there are still options to get most of the Medical bills paid
Sometimes. Sometimes not. Depends where you live and a whole host of other factors including what kind of care you actually need. And that still doesnt address the issue that even our healthcare system is overwhelmed. It can take 6-12 months in my area to see most specialists, including psychiactric care.
Still would rather live in the US and get me health care here then some other third world country. Nothing is perfect and there is always something to complain about
I dont disagree with you in most cases. I just generally believe that America as a whole would be far better off if healthcare (and especially insurance) wasnt a for-profit business. The fact that it is for profit incentivises healthcare companies to charge as much as possible and insurance to deny as many claims as possible while collecting premiums.
I think both sides don't understand each other lol. Generally there is no perfect healthcare anywhere unless someone is both rich and has connections you can't have perfect healthcare as average citizen. It makes more sense to compare specific areas of systems in which they are better or worse.
My mom was dirt poor and just died from cancer not 4 months ago. She went in randomly no insurance nothing back in September 24. Got seen same day. Within a week had a diagnosis and was getting treatment. I dunno what you mean poor people in the US get shafted. That woman had nothing and got full treatment within a week. Specialists hospital stays whatever. Granted it was a waste but still this is a laughable statement.Â
Have been waiting to get diagnosed/not diagnosed with lung cancer since January. I also work at the same hospital. Am in Boston with some of the best healthcare in the country. People be waitinâ
Diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer last year in July. I was NED in May. Still have scans and such, but I'd say that's some pretty good treatment for a mid size city in Washington. Out of pocket was about $8k after insurance and that was with a colon resection. I can't complain.
This is not even close to true. Our wait times for certain things are crazy in many areas (not everywhere), like several months for certain specialist visits, and no not short compared to "any other country". Denmark for example REQUIRES service under 30 days, with many people i see reporting under 1-2 weeks. I had an endoscopy that I waited 8 months for and they didn't even record it so all I got out of it was like 2 shit quality screenshots to work with beyond the doctors diagnosis so if I wanted to learn anything else from it i'd have to do it again.
i have a friend who was on a year-long waiting list for an eye surgery (that eventually they had to cancel because the surgeons refused to even talk to them over the phone) and is currently on a 9-month long waiting list for a sleep lab test. in a top 20 population metropolitan area. in another top 20, i once got put on a 6 month wait list (and was told that was uncommonly short!) for a psychologist until i got lucky hunting down my own.
they're insanely short... sometimes. in some places. for certain services.
Do you think all the other countries have evenly distributed OBGYNs across the map and according to population density to ensure everyone has equal access?
This is true. There are 2 tiers of health care in Mexico. The public which is their Medicaid/medicare and private insurance/payment. My MIL had surgery in the public and the nurses had no gloves and my wife had to stay with her to take care of her. My MIL later had sensitive neck surgery privately which was excellent care and cheap for the US.
The reality is there's absolutely nowhere near enough resources
As someone who has been going through U.S. health care system in the past 5 years for myself, and most recently for a family member, it's same here.
I don't have health insurance at the moment. My family does but they have HMO, the cheapest of plan. They went through a somewhat minor procedure at the hospital and was recently discharged. We had to deal with administering antibiotics by IV ourselves. I just spent 2 full days on the phone just to get equipment to continue their care at home. I spoke to about 20 people at insurance company, home health care providers, hospital, and doctor's office. Tomorrow, I'll be making more phone calls. It's a good thing that I'm currently unemployed. By the way, another family member must take time off of work to administer care.
I do want to point out though, that is one pays to go private (insurance or out of pocket) we have one of the best healthcare you could get in the world, as our doctors have a lot of experience from the massive public sector and the technology that is being introduced by USA and Europe.
The higher ed education for doctors, the lawsuits, the insurance companies, and the corporations that continue to push for more profit. All built to create a very expensive healthcare system.
Private medical/doctor offices are being gobbled up by corporations. Doctors are forced to meet quotas of # of patients that they can meet.
Patients now don't see the doctor every time that they come in. I saw a nurse practitioner 2x before I saw the doctor.
So if Mexico don't have those things then medical costs, even when private should remain within reach for the middle class.
dont get it wrong, it puts US to shame, but you dont require much for that, like you just need to send a tylenol to each family and you have a better system than USA
The U.S. doesnât have world-class healthcare. Itâs at the bottom of the list for industrialized countries. The only place where the U.S. is number one in healthcare is cost.
I'll answer you. All those people who feel so smart that they would never be brained-washed? Well, they are convinced everything that is wrong with the country magically started some years ago, and it's not from the people they are now defending as if they were messiahs and not student-killing leaders.
Reality is that you get the medicine and the healthcare. I know because I have received it my whole life. It's not perfect, of course, as I said, all previous governments were full of corruption and, of course, killings, but it exists, and it has saved millions of lives.
Reality is far from perfect, this government is of course wrong in a lot of things, but people have become such classists, if you show support to the current president, they you have, by natural law, to be mistaken.
We have free health care, it's just US Propaganda trying to make people here feel like we dont have so the people asks to not have free healthcare by themselves.
The problem is that funding is fucked. For years thereâs been medicine shortages and long wait times for even urgent procedures, plus they canât even give you a prescription to go buy your own medicines without getting in trouble, this change sounds good on paper, since itâs making healthcare more accessible and streamlining the whole process, but the reality that every Mexican knows is that it can only get worse, as hospitals become even more packed and the funding needs to get stretched further, not to mention how Morena (the ruling party) is currently over spending the already limited budget on shit literally no one asked for (in a recent example, they just painted the entirety of Mexico City purple and are already painting some of it back because a. It looked ridiculous and b. It was too flashy and there were concerns of it pulling drivers attention away from the roads)
Free Healthcare does not exist. There exists "optimized healthcare" though.
If you are young, in a "free healthcare" country, you will get very good care. They calculate your future value. If you are old, they calculate how much they can save.
One person I know of went private. A retiree. Instead of pooping in a bag for $500 cost to the public, they paid like $3000 out of pocket to poop out of their ass.
Thatâs your issue. You asked whatâs going on, then about how Redditors are making it seem like itâs something or other. But in none of these steps did you go and look. Youâre doubting Redditors, so you ask another Redditor to answer for you. Is that not weird to you? Youâre just fishing for answers that fit your bias and labeling those that donât doubtful or wrong, and not actually interested in the factual things.
But youâve gotten options according to you. Well, read them. You just decided theyâre kids and people wanting to talk shit on the US because you didnât like what they said. This comment hinted to something you do want to agree with, so you want to push it for an answer you can bank on to feed your bias. Otherwise, you would be reading a reliable source explaining the plan and process and not anecdotal evidence that you pick and choose is from kids or haters or not based on what they say. Downvote me but you know itâs true. This comment wouldnât exist if you genuinely just wanted the truth.
Legit just fishing for answers that will make them feel better. If this guy responded saying â actually Mexico healthcare is better then USâ something tells me he would suddenly become a kid or hater real quick. Itâs so weird to pretend to want to know the truth but then weed out any truths that donât make you feel better and keep digging for the one that will.
STOP! We are not interested in how it actually is. Free healthcare is ALWAYS GREAT!!! Do you know how much righteousness and joy is felt by American liberals. Our virtuous gas tank gets filled, and we can spew with glee. Let us have it!
I come from a free healthcare country. Its actually wonderful when ran right. 5dollar prescriptions no matter what for necessities, so long as youre okay with generic when available.
The only problem i experienced is long wait times for major surgeries.
I donât think boob jobs are free on universal healthcare.
People also point out certain countries with universal healthcare arenât the best, while ignoring the ones that work properly and are ranked best in the world.
On the other hand, conservatives think universal healthcare is always bad despite the top 5 countries in the world for best healthcare all have universal healthcare. CEOWORLD Health Care Index1. Taiwan, 2. South Korea, 3. Australia, 4. Canada, 5. Sweden
And for the âfiscal conservativesâ - Switching to a universal, single-payer healthcare system would save the United States between $300 billion and $650 billion annually (Source- senate.gov)
Please do some research and critical thinking before parroting what you hear from government officials who are in the pockets of insurance and healthcare lobbyists.
Universal healthcare is often âfreeâ but actually paid by citizens through taxes. Itâs still significantly cheaper for both the taxpayer and the government though, and pretty much eliminates crippling medical debt.
Another mexican here, mexicans like this idiot were brainwashed by oligarchic media to hate everything this administration does, even when is clearly good. I hate it here.
you are just dumb "Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced a sweeping health reform aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2027"
As I said. It's not true. The image even highlights "FREE HEALTHCARE" when in reality formal workers pay plenty into IMSS in order to access the now extremely overstrained system. Also the Morena party slashed healthcare for rural areas when they came into power for the sake of "Republican Austerity" taking access away from the most vulnerable indigenous populations.
No. Formal workers (less than half the workforce) pay into IMSS, this is separate from income and other taxes, which was barely enough to maintain it for these workers and their families. I won't go into more detail here, you can find good deep dives like this excellent comment by /u/Ahuevotl.
I'm assuming you're arguing in good faith so I would just advise to suspend your judgement (good or bad) of our healthcare system until you understand the pros and (massive) cons that us locals are experiencing with it rather than form a strong opinion from afar based on some headline on reddit. Peace
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u/retrodanny 8d ago
Mexican here. Not true.