Impacto del Seguro Popular sobre la desigualdad en el financiamiento de la salud en México, 2004-2010

This study presents a preliminary evaluation of the impact of the Seguro Popular (SP) on state and households health financing inequalities. There exist in Mexico extreme inequalities in health financing, which are explained by the high proportion of out-of-pocket spending in total health financing, as well as the unequal incidence of public health spending. The study is divided in two parts. The first evaluates the inequalities in public health financing between states, considering three principal aspects: a) the distribution of federal health spending on the uninsured, b) the capacity of state governments to absorb the financial burden implied by the rules of SP, and c) the incentives which these rules imply for state efforts in health financing. The second part evaluates the impact of SP in total health financial resources (public and private) available to households in Mexico.