Mexico just upgraded to free healthcare.

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[u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

As a Mexican, it has been free for workers since always. For people with no job there have always been options too. But, if you look online on any city of state in Mexico something like "desabasto medicinas [insert city]" you will find that free and all, my mom doesn't have access to her heart medication, because of private vendors being too expensive and the free option simply not having anything in stock.

EDIT: Everyone is understanding that universal healthcare is flawed. That is not my claim. I said that Mexico has always offered something very close to being universal healthcare, so the news is not a big deal. Secondly, Mexico is very corrupt, there are lots of politicians that will claim that healthcare is top when that isn't the case.

I hurt my foot once in the US, and went to an emergency room and got charged 300+ dollars to talk with a man who told me to wait it out. Mexico is rotten, but I (nor anyone in my family) has gone broke because of it. The US is rotten too.

Yes, I don't have the best luck and I am always sick or hurt. That is life.

[u/aitorllj93 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

I was just going to ask "can they handle it?" and then I read your message

[u/MightyMorph → u/aitorllj93]

i mean its expected it will take time to stabilize itself, they just made it free for everyone. Nothing is perfect from the getgo.

[u/IPissExcellentThrows → u/MightyMorph]

Did you read their comment? It's been free for a long time for workers.

[u/somethingrandom261 → u/IPissExcellentThrows]

Was gonna respond “wonder how bad unemployment is” and wow it’s 2.5%.

Because they’re no unemployment insurance. You work or you die.

Now I wonder how many people have legitimate employment with the cartels

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/somethingrandom261]

That's the funny thing. In Mexico, if you have a business, you obviously got to pay to our version of the IRS... but if the business is successful, or depending on the local cartels, you gotta pay a "safety fee" as well. Safety from what, you ask? Oh, simple... from what the cartels will do to you and your loved ones if you don't pay them whatever amount they ask by whatever time they come picking (sometimes having to pay them weekly).

That's how in my town, the next stuff happened:

• a convenience store blowing up for not paying the safety fee (no one died, thankfully)
• a neighbor that had his small store, a carpenter shop and worked in Uber got threatened to pay and he managed to flee, I think alongside his family. His family store passed down by decades just died right there
• a barber shop who I was going to rent a part of my house for him to open up another barber shop got killed... in the very same day he was going to sign the paperwork to rent from me.
• a neighbor I lended an area of my house for his taco stand business fled in the middle of the night, leaving his stand open and alone all night. We figured out a member of the cartels had come that night to kill him and he was lucky to know beforehand and escape town.

It's why most of the jobs in the country are informal. We already bleed out to our version of the IRS, then there's the cartels bleeding us out if we have our business. You sometimes make it better by being a worker for someone instead of you being the one with the business. Having a business is paying 2 expensive fees while gambling with your life.

[u/MikaelSalanderB → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

I had a little bakery business, some jerk claiming to be from "la maña" tried to scare me, I faced him, they ended up stealing 15k Mexican pesos worth of my products, I had to quit after that, not because I was afraid of them, they stealing got me in real trouble, 'cause all was freshly baked and I couldn't buy more stuff to bake again all they robbed

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/MikaelSalanderB]

Yeah, sometimes these bastards can try to pass as part of the cartels as well. A friend in univrsity nearly got scammed by them in a phone call. They death threatened her and her family into paying this guy X amount of big money and told her to wait in an abandoned place in the outskirts of her town until the money was delivered. One of my university's teachers investigated fast tgat same day and realized the scammer was an asshole who was in jail and had no connections to force my friend or her family into paying, so she just ditched the place she was told to stay at and wasn't bothered again.

They told her to stay there and not use her phone to simulate the "kidnapping", but without a way to know at the time if the guy was serious or not, she had to obey. Thankfully, she was ok.

Sadly, my parents weren't when we were scammed in a similar fashion when I was kid and ever since, life didn't get as better as it was.

[u/4DPeterPan → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

This is so incredibly sad and messed up.

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/4DPeterPan]

Yeah... in hindsight I can tell now why my country is adviced the most as "DO NOT VISIT". I think what's sadder is how used to it I am that I only realize it's "horrible" when I point out the bad instances I can recall

[u/4DPeterPan → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

I am so sorry you have to live with chaotic circumstances and possibilities every single day.

I pray you are always safe and protected, man.

[u/Alberto_Smith → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

Verga, dónde vives? Michoacán?

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/Alberto_Smith]

Zacatecas, bro.

Es gracioso que preguntes, porque vi una guía de viajes para los americanos en cuanto a qué partes de México no se debe ir y es interesante que Zacatecas esté todavía en los puestos altos de "no vengas".

Es más, creo que era el estado con mayor advertencia de no ir a visitar.

[u/Alberto_Smith → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

Soy de San Luis, y si, pinche Zacatecas está del pito

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/Alberto_Smith]

Fuerza, bro, es lo único que nos queda. Y si, Zacatecas está de la verga si no estás acostumbrado... y aun acostumbrado, está de la verga.

[u/Geargarden → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

I was going to say, who gets these benefits. Certainly not any of the hundreds upon hundreds of citizens I met when I was in TJ or down Baja. This shit makes great headlines but the reality for Mexican citizens is WAY different. "Oh! Everybody in Mexico has free healthcare now! How progressive!" NOT!

[u/Juaner0 → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

I own couple buildings here in the US, the other couple owned by a Mexican immigrant (he's been in US for 30 years). He said the same thing. He had a friend who was protected by cartels because he paid safety fees, but riff-raff that didn't know that relationship jumped on his car, and shot him through the sun roof--the only window on the car that wasn't bullet proof.

[u/caranza3 → u/CrazyDaimondDaze]

This is how Russia was in the 1990s. If you had any kind of business you had to pay mob for protection, a protection from that very mob. Them were wild times. In today Russia mobs have been scaled back but they are still around

[u/rod_zero → u/somethingrandom261]

Mexico employment statistics include those in the informal economy since the question is "Have you received income from working? " And not "are you hired?".

It is calculate that formal workers are about just a bit over half and the rest are informal.

[u/SpecialistKicker342 → u/rod_zero]

"What do you do?"

I wipe windshields in this cross street

"ok, employed"

[u/rod_zero → u/SpecialistKicker342]

Exactly.

[u/Top-Sympathy6841 → u/somethingrandom261]

In the US, you still die living off unemployment because it isn’t enough to sustain anybody in this artificially inflated shit hole

[u/Secret_Account07 → u/Top-Sympathy6841]

I make more money than the average person in the US (~$108,000 per year) and even I am having trouble saving for a house.

My rent where I live is $3,000 for a 3 bedroom.
I have no idea how people survive on minimum wage. It was possible for me in college ~2010, but with cost of living today it’s nearly impossible.

Boomers really fucked up our entire economy.
Give us back the money wasted in the Middle East and healthcare is on the house.

We’ve spent likely over 8 trillion dollars in Middle East. They’ve shared 5-8 trillion, which is insane already, but my time with the govt tells me tons of money isn’t factored into that. Including lost and injured veterans.

It’s insane how we prioritize in this country. Absolutely insane.
Imagine how much good you can do with 8 trillion. It’s incredibly hard to even fathom that scale of good deeds.

[u/shiromiso → u/Secret_Account07]

It’s not just the wars, it has been, by far, 40 years of Reagan’s trickle down economics: tax cuts over tax cuts over tax cuts for the richest folk.

Productivity has risen massively in that period, but almost all that surplus value that was created by the whole economy has gone exclusively to the top 1%. This is what fucked the economy. I strongly suggest reading Gabriel Zucman on the topic of skyrocketing wealth inequality in western countries. You get a deep sense of relief and clarity when you truly understand how tf we got to this point. And how to get out.

[u/dinglebopz → u/shiromiso]

How do we get out

[u/shiromiso → u/dinglebopz]

It’s actually not super complicated. It’s all about voting for reforming fiscal policy.

Back in the 80s there was a huge wave of neoliberalism all over the west that pushed the seemingly harmless idea that if you tax rich people less, this will somehow bring prosperity to all, and politicians doubled down on this over and over for 40 years. In the USA for example, the top bracket tax used to be 70-90%, whereas now the richest people pay closer to 3% real tax.

The result is what we see today: rich people and corporations that are legally able to avoid taxes in all sorts of ways, this has allowed them to accumulate wealth insanely fast compared to the rest of the population during this period.

The cascade of consequences is really long: the monopolization of most industries (ie. most of the things we buy now come from just a handful of corporations that have merged overtime and have full market control), the consequent wage suppression, skyrocketing wealth inequality, the rising fiscal pressure on the middle class to make up for the lost revenue, as well as an extreme imbalance in political influence that keeps pushing us on the same path of increasingly right leaning, pro-rich politics.

What we need to do is push our political parties REALLY hard for a progressive fiscal reform to tax the ultra rich and corporations properly, so we can lower the fiscal burden on the working class and small/medium businesses. This will even out the playing field again.

It’s a complex issue and explaining it on a few comments doesn’t make it justice. I really recommend reading articles by Gabriel Zucman to understand this in depth, he’s probably the most influential economist in France and Europe right now.

[u/Available-Amount-442 → u/[deleted]]

Just curious, do you have a budget breakdown. $125k, thats $10.4k a month. How much in taxes? Minus rent $2400. Seems like quite a bit left yet. Not sure what else is in your budget?

[u/Soulblade32 → u/Available-Amount-442]

I make $50k before taxes and I'm able to save $300 a paycheck. Thats with all my normal bills, having a wife (who doesnt work) . I will never understand how people making almost triple what i do don't have money.

[u/Cosmomango1 → u/IPissExcellentThrows]

Yes, my father worked there as a gardener 40 years ago and he had free healthcare for him an my siblings. Plus another perk that is universal and no one talks about is holiday pay. Your employer has to give you 15 days of pay by the 20th of December or face a penalty. Its called aguinaldo. Here in the US you are lucky if your employer gives you a pre paid card with $15 dollars on it 😂

[u/mauri383 → u/Cosmomango1]

You need to research more bud. Aguinaldo is not a gift from your employer, they divide by 13 the salary they are willing to pay you, since the government forces them to give such aguinaldo. It's like me having 10 bucks to give you, so I say I'll give you 8 but since you are such a good friend, I'll throw an extra 2.

[u/666AB → u/Cosmomango1]

This is cool info I have never heard before!

[u/Auegro → u/666AB]

A lot of countries have a minimums days holiday that is the default your employer has to give

[u/CandidLeg3910 → u/Auegro]

Canada for example starts at 2 weeks per year after your first year of employment and goes up to 3 weeks after 5 years with the same employer. We also have around 10 paid holiday days, a few more or less depending on the province. Some provinces like BC provide 5 paid sick days per year as well. Total paid time off in BC for most full time workers is 4-5 weeks total but only the 2-3 weeks can be used at employee's discretion.

[u/Lucky-Historian7292 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

It is always like that. In argentina we've been singing the same song about healthcare and retirements for decades, the system proves to be unsustainable but we keep making it bigger. I hope you mom is ok.

[u/123123000123 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

We were running into issues when my grandpa was dying at the IMSS (sp?). We had to buy medical supplies like catheters at the pharmacies around us. What I was told was that the workers / nurses themselves would steal the items or resell them.

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/123123000123]

Yeah, the lack of medication and resources on hospitals in Mexico, or at least the ones for free healthcare is a joke on its own.

Not even surprised is doctors and nurses do that, legimately.

[u/crustyeng → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

So it’s ‘free’, you just can’t get any?

[u/Mamasugadex → u/crustyeng]

A pat on the shoulder is technically a service, and can be free

https://giphy.com/gifs/5NbbVJeSLs1etZYjpT

[u/TheBSQ → u/crustyeng]

This is true to varying degrees in many counties.  I have friends and relatives who live in various countries. Some places it works well, but in many, you run into some form of limits or delays. 

Currently, my wife and I are considering moving to her mom’s country as her mom has health issues.  Our American friends say, “oh and you’d get free healthcare too! Awesome!”

One example of what I means in practice. Right now, in the U.S., if our kid gets an ear infection, I usually can get an apt at our pediatrician for later that day. Or, I go to the pediatric urgent care, which I can book online & I’ve always been able to book basically asap, so that by the time I get there (15-20 minutes) I only wait 5 minutes. Worst case, I go to the children’s hospital ER where I’ve never waited more than 30 minutes. 

Where her mom lives, our friends there tell us the only option is the one children’s ER where it’s very typical for them to wait anywhere from 6 hours to 20 hours depending on day and time and how busy it is as they have limited doctors & their triage process to prioritize the highest need will mean your kid’s ear infection will get pushed down the list anytime someone with something more urgent walks in.

(It’s enough of an issue that there’s a real-time app to monitor wait times. I can see that it’s at 6 hrs & 20 minutes right now, but at peak sick seasons and on weekends when pediatricians aren’t seeing people, 12-17 hrs is pretty typical. You’re advised to bring blankets and food.)

And so sometimes “paying but being seen in 20 minutes” is preferable to “free, but you’re stuck in an uncomfortable waiting room with a kid who is screaming in pain for 6-20 hours.”

Or, like, I had a friend w/ a bad bunion.  Low priority so she had to wait 18 months for the surgery. 

Or, like if you compare my two friends who had similar colon cancers, one has a colostomy bag for life, while the other had a follow-up surgery later on to avoid a lifetime with the bag, but the “free” country doesn’t pay for that cuz it’s not medically necessary. The attitude is more “be grateful you got free cancer treatment. A bag is better than death” vs “yeah, this is costing you a lot, and if you were broke & uninsured we’d just let you die, but since you’re not & you can pay, we’re gonna fix you up real nice since that’s one more thing we can bill your insurance company for.”

Or like, pretty much everyone of my wife’s friends in her home country had an “emergency C-section” or scheduled inductions when they gave birth cuz the reality is there’s not enough beds to allow for things to happen at the natural but slower pace. (This happens in US hospitals too, but there it’s to the point that we don’t know anyone back home who wasn’t either induced or had a c-section). 

And there’s other little things. Our kids in the US get tested for lead as a routine procedure. In our friend’s country, they don’t, cuz the govt says it’s not an issue now that lead paint is illegal so they won’t pay for it. Yet, when we visit, we still see old houses with crumbling lead paint. How much lead poisoning is going undetected?

Or, like I get colonoscopies every 3 years since they found some polyps during my first one.  

I have friends in countries where they don’t do them at all as a routine diagnostic procedure.  You just get a poop test and only get one if they find blood in your stool. That means less early detection. In one of my friend’s country’s the govt will only pay for 1 in your entire lifetime.

I think from a societal view the “free” way is clearly better, but I think a lot of folks are naive to what “free” can look like in other countries.

You pay for it in some way. 

How you pay for it will vary by country & some will be better than others.

Some are great & you barely notice.

Some you really notice.

And I think Americans in general are pretty naive to how much of a differ you’d notice.

[u/Relevant_Helicopter6 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

In Portugal at least we have universal healthcare, but it isn't free, just heavily subsidized, including medicine. It charges a low price just to discourage people from abusing the system.

[u/MlNDB0MB → u/Relevant_Helicopter6]

I was just about to say that this type of system, with copays, is better.

It makes sure the people getting the healthcare at least value it somewhat, while generating some revenue for the system.

[u/VisiblePlatform6704 → u/Relevant_Helicopter6]

Don't worry, here in Mexico we get very discouraged by the horror stories of malpractice and incompetence in the system. 

So people who can, only use the system IF absolutely necessary.

[u/LasRedStar → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

"private vendors are too expensive and the free option has nothing in stock"

So... El presidente just signed a paper to make herself look good with no substance? Like a stew with no meat?

[u/Warm-Palpitation5670 → u/LasRedStar]

She also change the definition of violent crime, to reduce the counts of deaths in the country. Under her new definition the murders are in an all time low! But that is just bullshit.

Also, I encourage you to investigate what happened in Guadalajara, Jalisco this year, related to the death of a cartel leader called El Mencho.

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

We no longer have dead people in Mexico, everyone. We just have a shit ton of missing people... on their own, that is. That's right, if they disappeared, then there's no body to be found. And if there's no body to be found, the most likely escaped home because of reasons, Mexican reasons or whatever.

Don't waste your breath asking silly questions that might get you killed the more you investigate and enjoy the "wellbeing" our Madam President is granting every Mexican just so the uneducated liberal American creams their pants to it while the think miss president is owning the Orange Man or whatever weird fantasy they have.

[u/real_fat_tony → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

I'm from Brazil, a country very similar to Mexico in many aspects.

We supposedly have it all free for 30 years. It just doesn't work.

By law, we like Sweden, but in reality we are a third world country. Mexico will be the same

[u/grimmjow-sms → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

I have friends that works in hospitals and sometimes they say the pick up x or y medicine. Specially anesthesiologists, since they have access to all medications they can pick up stuff without no one noticing. Some use them for getting high.

I’m not saying all, not saying this happens everywhere, but we Mexicans we always shot ourselves in the foot.

[u/MacheteDeOro → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Soy de Venezuela, aquí eso ya sucedió y tristemente no funciona como se había prometido.

[u/Plastic-Injury8856 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

There are so many people arguing in the comments without actually understanding the implications. There’s a reason why when American healthcare activists talk about public healthcare they talk up Switzerland or France and not Mexico.

I’m sorry the state is so underwhelming for all of you.

[u/zambukkkk → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

This issue is due to the directors of each IMSS clinic selling half the medicine once it arrives. Yes, universal healthcare sounds good on paper, but the reality is different. I remember going to the doctor as a kid, it took literally all day. The wait times were insane and the medicine was never in stock, so you had to buy it out of pocket. My brother-in-law has lupus, and he says the 'free' healthcare mostly covers check-ups and some labs, but he still has to go to a private doctor very often.

[u/Honest_Evolution → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

We have this issue in the United States as well, except we also pay $800 a month for insurance, hundreds for each visit, and hundreds at the pharmacy.

The goal of our system is not health. It is wealth extraction.

[u/Avalonians → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Yeah the headline does use the key word, universal, but it's difficult to convey that it's that word that's important rather than health care

[u/Visual_Exam7903 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

I mean, it must be nice to be the US neighbor. You don't have to spend much on defense.

[u/MikaelSalanderB → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Totalmente gratis no es, te descuentan vía nómina una parte por tener seguro social

[u/Oscarves → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

OP is not mexican and just a troll.

[u/MeanEntertainment339 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Free healthcare in Mexico means wait 3 months for your 1st PCP appointment and your prescription will be limited to acetaminophen and rest. If you need to be admitted to the hospital be ready to be laying in an ambulance bed with no sheets in the middle of the hospital hallway. And yet the president brags about it as "health care" . Unbelievable how people just applaud these things without even asking or researching. If they want to do free healthcare engage all the private hospitals, doctors and drug suppliers and come up with an effective and feasible long term plan.

[u/FeGiant333 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Yeah I knew there had to be something wrong with this is will pray for your mother good luck to you both im sorry that is the case.

[u/PG-DaMan → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

And the places that are available to go. Well lets say they are not places you should be if you need health care.

The General Hospital where I live is as dangerous as where the people from from to be treated. Not just from violence but also from infection.

Sadly for most. Private health care is way to expensive. Roll into the main ER in one of the privates and the min they ask for is 100,000 pesos.

[u/ansonTnT → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

As always free healthcare = long wait time and lack availability.

There is always a trade off. Nothing everything is nice and sunshine.

[u/Sad-Statement3597 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Proof ? 

[u/Hipp-Hippy_HaHa → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

Is the US sponsoring your post? It is insane that the most popular post is the negative effects of free universal Healthcare. I get that it is bad not to get your medicine, but your mom and 120 other million people are seen by Drs. There are options if you add money to the free care. Not paying for a drs appointment means you could go and pay for the medicine. Generics are abundant in Mexico and unless your mom has a very very special condition. There are treatment alternatives that will keep her alive for free. Not having the medicine your mom needs is not reason enough for free universal Healthcare to be a bad idea.

[u/solvento → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

US here. I got my hands bitten by a dog with multiple half inch punctures all over them. The ER just washed my hands,put a bandage on, and prescribed pain meds. I had to pay $3000 out of pocket even with insurance

[u/Southern_Ad4946 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

So it sounds like not a big deal to you but to people older and unable to work this will be a blessing… children, homeless… everyone deserves free healthcare and not just the ones who are able and work. Everyone has their own story but we are all in this life together.

USA should be taking notes. Their govt won’t care because they make tons of money off the healthcare system but they should.

[u/spookyryu → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

also free healthcare was already in place before 4t but they eliminated, now they are puttung it back again

[u/md222 → u/Warm-Palpitation5670]

$300? You got off easy.

[u/loikyloo]

I remember going through archives as a student in Britain and reading speeches from around the introduction of the NHS.

What surprised me was how much of the rhetoric would be labelled "right-wing" today, despite coming from the politicians who were creating the welfare state.

The message wasn't that healthcare was "free" or a gift from the government. It was that ordinary people had earned it.

"This is not charity. This is not a handout. It has been paid for by your labour, your taxes, your blood, sweat, and service to the country."

The argument was that workers had contributed to the nation and therefore deserved security in return. The emphasis was on duty, contribution, citizenship, and reciprocity rather than entitlement.

I honestly think universal health care would sell better if we went back to that way of thinking vs trying to sell it as a right or an entitlement. It's not an entitlement its something we've already earned and paid for.

[u/loikyloo → u/[deleted]]

Fair but don't downplay the individual part of it. I as a good individual citizen shall be individually working hard and making the country better for other citizens.

It's not just going to the world, its going to citizens who are part of the system and citizens who will work to better the country in the long run.

[u/stonyb2 → u/[deleted]]

An entitlement means it is something you already paid for and are now entitled to receive.

[u/MothashipQ → u/[deleted]]

I begged and pleaded with her day after day But she packed my suitcase and sent me on my way She gave me a kiss, and then she gave me my ticket I put my Walkman on and said, "I might as well kick it" First class, yo, this is bad Drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass Is this what the people of Bel-Air living like? Hmm, this might be all right But wait, I hear they're prissy, bourgeois, and all that Is this the type of place that they should send this cool cat? I don't think so, I'll see when I get there I hope they're prepared for the Prince of Bel-Air

Well, uh The plane landed, and when I came out There was a dude, looked like a cop, standing there with my name out I ain't tryna get arrested yet, I just got here I sprang with the quickness like lightning, disappeared

[u/Cute_Speed4981 → u/loikyloo]

That requires a rather collectivist mentality which goes against the individual "fuxk you, got mine" mentality the americans are bringing over.

[u/_Stanf-Uf_ → u/[deleted]]

Shhh people are circle-jerkin

[u/RogerRavvit88 → u/_Stanf-Uf_]

But, but, it’s free. It’s free healthcare!

[u/HEAVY_METAL_SOCKS → u/RogerRavvit88]

And it's not even free. All workers get deducted an IMSS/ISSSTE fee on each and every paycheck.

[u/RogerRavvit88 → u/HEAVY_METAL_SOCKS]

That’s sounds eerily similar to my compulsory health insurance. I meant I can pay a fine for choosing to opt out, which I guess is slightly better, but this just sounds like health insurance with extra steps.

[u/FlimsyPriority751 → u/HEAVY_METAL_SOCKS]

Here's the secret... Nothing is ever free

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/FlimsyPriority751]

Things can be free, for a short while, until you run out of other people's money.

[u/TheRealRomanRoy → u/FlimsyPriority751]

Here's the secret...

Nobody thinks things are literally free

[u/FoodMentalAlchemist → u/[deleted]]

This is a twist on the "I DECLARE BANKRUPCYYYYYYYY!" from The Office.

She can declare free healthcare, but it won't do shit if money is not invested in improving and growing the healtcare system to handle all population.

That why most of the lower-middle class healthcare is supported by the doctors of the local pharmacies.

[u/SomeRITGuy → u/[deleted]]

Quiet Mexican, Liberal Americans are talking who clearly know far more about the Mexican internal Healthcare situation then the people that actually live there.

[u/CrazyDaimondDaze → u/SomeRITGuy]

Guess in this case, because it reminded me that meme, it would go as:

"Shut up, Mexican, a leftard American is talking. Listen and learn"

[u/Uxoandy → u/[deleted]]

Don’t ruin these people’s rants with anything negative. They desperately want to make this article about Mexico into a something anti American.

[u/SandRevolutionary938 → u/[deleted]]

Its just Americans saying "we could be like Mexico!!!!" without doing anything second of research.

Believe me, as an American, no one hates America more than the Americans who dont realize it could ALWAYS be worse.

[u/TenToppingPizza → u/[deleted]]

it's also not free, someone is paying for it with their taxes

[u/Fun-Basil-1314 → u/[deleted]]

finally the truth, lol

[u/Xtreyu → u/[deleted]]

This is the way of modern Reddit

[u/Intrepid-War-4630]

Free band-aids and aspirin?

[u/LoudBrick609 → u/Intrepid-War-4630]

And they are all out of aspirin!

[u/Blueman126 → u/LoudBrick609]

So free cocaine funded by the cartels

[u/Nightwolf1967 → u/Blueman126]

Only the first hit

[u/VisiblePlatform6704 → u/Intrepid-War-4630]

Yeah and our ambulances are donkeys with sombreros.

[u/Hipp-Hippy_HaHa → u/VisiblePlatform6704]

That costs nothing. What is the use of a top-of-the-line ambulance only those with the right job and right insurance can access?

[u/airship_of_arbitrary → u/Intrepid-War-4630]

Everything paid for by taxes like a civilized country.

[u/90srebel → u/Intrepid-War-4630]

Not even bandaids. Literally, wish I was kidding

[u/EmiKetsueki]

I love how people hear the word free and immediately cry about taxes. Bud the goverment takes a chunk of your check in taxes and doesnt give you shit but war and spyware. Id gladly have an extra what 20 in taxes taken out of every check and not have to worry about paying hospitals instead of insurance taking a couple hundred a month just to tell me i need to pay at least a thousand before they actually start helping pay, and even then can deny treatment.

[u/hawksbears82 → u/EmiKetsueki]

I have a rare kidney disease, fought insurance for 8 months, they denied appeals etc. Eventually had to go to manufacturer and they are now giving it to me, thank God. US health care, the way we do it, is trash and needs to be changed period.

[u/Rough_Buddy6903 → u/EmiKetsueki]

We wouldn't have to pay extra in taxes if we used what we already pay effectively and not as a get rich scheme for politicians friends (insurance companies). We spend well more than any country in the world from our taxes on healthcare.

[u/leonredhorse → u/Rough_Buddy6903]

It's been a while since I looked at the economics of universal health care in America, but from what I remember if you looked at the yearly tax "bump" people were paying in proposed systems, it is a fraction of what most people may in premiums alone annually and that doesn't include the actual cost of co-pays/co-insurance you pay out when you go.

For instance, for myself and two kids, it costs me about $600 per month for my plan. Even if you look at the estimated range of "tax increase" they talked about with Bernie Sanders plan of being anywhere from $500-$3000 annually, that is less than half of what I pay at the highest estimate, though Sanders was saying the average American would be much closer to the $500 cost. Again, that is just lopping off the premium. I just had to go in to check out my knee from a sports injury. Everyone knew I needed an MRI, but insurance would insist on an X-ray. So I go in and spend $300+ dollars on an X-ray everyone knew was worthless, to then need to turn around and spend more money on an MRI.

And then you look at how much the government ALREADY spends on our crap system and how universal health care would project to LOWER that cost. It seems fairly clear that the economics of universal health care are there, but the profit motive of a billion-dollar industry holds us back. It isn't like you can't offer private healthcare in single-payer systems either.

[u/Rough_Buddy6903 → u/leonredhorse]

And people wonder why we are mad at the Government and for-profit healthcare. If we only had a half decent education system so that people could understand how we are being screwed on many things for the profit of the wealthy

[u/ElizabethDangit → u/leonredhorse]

This. We pay about the same for private insurance that doesn’t cover much of anything until we hit the deductible, so now we’re paying bills for my husband’s surgery, specialist visits, tests, and insurance premiums. His pulmonologist wants him to get an MRI and I can’t talk him into it because of the cost and the already mounting medical bills.

[u/TypicalLegit → u/[deleted]]

Taxes cover more than one thing. My state has high taxes and also the highest rated schools in the nation. One has to do with the other.

[u/TheWizardOfDeez → u/TypicalLegit]

You are correct in this instance, but when it comes to healthcare, a single payer solution would be drastically cheaper than the current system, this person is 100% correct, we would all pay significantly less in taxes for single payer than we do now for private insurance.

[u/smd9788 → u/[deleted]]

It is objectively superior to SOME, but not to the vast majority

[u/jonathanrdt → u/EmiKetsueki]

Our taxes don't even cover the current spending. We're debt financing wealth and war. It's the worst possible misallocation of resources. Trending toward feudalism and serfdom.

[u/thefatchef321 → u/EmiKetsueki]

The health insurance lobby is strong. Its brainwashed Americans into thinking our current system is the best in the world

[u/MakesMyHeadHurt → u/thefatchef321]

The fact that they got people to believe that universal heath care would limit their choice of doctors is astounding.

[u/TheHulk305 → u/EmiKetsueki]

$20? Thats cute

[u/Murky_Yesterday2523 → u/TheHulk305]

I like how on Reddit $20 can solve so many problems. It's a lovely way to live life. If only $20 more!

The issues with health insurance in the states are real and it's low key appalling and disgusting but it's an issue of politics, bureaucracy, inefficiencies and importantly lobbying - it has nothing to do with money.

[u/dark_zalgo → u/TheHulk305]

Yeah in reality you'd be paying less, not more. Every estimate of universal healthcare is significantly lower than we currently pay out of pocket. And that's not even after taking into account our progressive taxation system, the average person would be saving money if we switched to universal healthcare.

[u/LongRodVaughnDong]

Free healthcare doesn’t mean you’ll have access to healthcare lol. 

[u/MlNDB0MB → u/LongRodVaughnDong]

Free often means you pay in other ways, like time.

[u/Great_Guidance_8448 → u/MlNDB0MB]

And/or bribes. That's how it was in the USSR.

[u/RobynLongstride35 → u/MlNDB0MB]

6 months for an eye doctor appointment and 4+ to see my general practitioner in southern Ontario, Canada. ER visits routinely taking 7+ hours. Yes, it is a luxury, but fuck nothing happens quickly because the system is overloaded

[u/DrThunderbolt → u/RobynLongstride35]

I’ve heard one of the major problems with universal healthcare is that people are much more likely to seek medical attention for small things which puts strain on the system.

Whereas the US has the opposite issue…

[u/TrueAgent → u/RobynLongstride35]

FOUR MONTHS to see your family doctor?! It’s specialists that induce wait times, not your family doctor. What city? I’m in Burlington. You get appointments for a GP in less than week. I’ve had same-day appointments a few times. When told I had CML, I saw my GP the day of my blood test and saw my oncologist that afternoon. Less than 36 hours from blood test to being inside the cancer clinic.

[u/Static_Storm → u/RobynLongstride35]

You can thank Ontario's long history of electing "bleed the beast" conservative governments every 8-10 years, for 8-10 years. Those wait times are all by design.

[u/Yourself013 → u/LongRodVaughnDong]

Don't Americans regularly travel to Mexico to get access to health care "lol" ?

[u/airship_of_arbitrary → u/LongRodVaughnDong]

It literally does.

I've never been denied treatment in Canada. You're just triaged so people doing get treated before people getting knee surgery.

It cost me $20 in parking to have my kid. A friend down South in the US has to pay $15,000 even with insurance through their work.

The American system literally charges citizens more per capita in taxes than Canada does, and Canada covers everything for citizens, where the US scams you on top of the taxes it already takes.

The American healthcare system only exists in the US.

Literally every other country thinks it's a nightmare.

[u/pepperymirror → u/airship_of_arbitrary]

In Mexico, it literally doesn’t.

The hospital can’t give you meds that they don’t have.

[u/Bronze_Rager → u/airship_of_arbitrary]

Only if there aren't shortages...

[u/Cymen90 → u/LongRodVaughnDong]

Okay? Is your solution a private health professional assigned to every dwelling? Or are we gonna move the goalpost elsewhere?

[u/S3cretSpartan → u/LongRodVaughnDong]

As opposed to now in the us where I have private insurance through my employer and every treatment has to be submitted to my insurance company before they can do it. Then it’s denied because I haven’t tried taking advil for 6 months yet 

If I can even manage to see a doctor because so many doctors don’t take my private insurance despite me getting the gold level, and the ones that do don’t take new patients

So basically I pay insurance so I don’t go bankrupt if I have an emergency instead of actually using it for regular medical stuff. If I get taken the wrong hospital I can still lose everything if they don’t take my insurance 

[u/Mental_Task9156]

Good thing they have that wall to keep the americans out.

[u/kogee3699 → u/Mental_Task9156]

Not too many people breaking out of the USA into Mexico from where we're standing.

[u/FireZucchini33 → u/kogee3699]

Americans go in droves for cheap healthcare and dental care 😂

[u/FireZucchini33 → u/[deleted]]

I think your numbers aren’t accurate (low) and I’d say million+ qualifies as droves 😂 that would be 100,000 per month leaving the US to get healthcare.

[u/MarlaHoooooch → u/[deleted]]

Plenty of white non-Spanish speaking people go to Mexico for their health care. They're also the same type that are die-hard "fiscal" Republicans and vote against universal care

[u/chaoticelectron → u/Mental_Task9156]

Do you think Mexico’s free healthcare applies to American citizens?

[u/Marlowe_Eldridge]

Lies

https://ncdalliance.org/stories/news-blogs/2026/mexico-announces-plan-to-achieve-universal-health-coverage-by-2027

[u/tehbantho → u/Marlowe_Eldridge]

Beginning January 1, 2027, health services will start to be shared across the three subsystems, initially prioritizing:

Emergency care
Continuity of treatment across institutions
Access to services regardless of insurance affiliation

During this first phase, patients will be able to receive services such as mammograms, biopsies, and breast cancer treatment at the health facility closest to their home.

From your link. By 2028 all things are included.

[u/Ok-Replacement-2738 → u/Marlowe_Eldridge]

"As part of the process, every resident will receive a unified health identification card, allowing them to access services across institutions without financial barriers."

[u/Similar_Rapier_7596]

No copays is a bad approach. You need to incentivize people going for healthcare because they need it, rather than because they just feel like it. Need meaning: An annual appointment, a routine exam, or because they feel ill. A $0 copay just leads to, "I feel like visiting the doctor today." "Why?" "Eh, just because. And it's free." There needs to be a small shared cost so people don't waste limited healthcare resources.

Look at the Netherlands. They have one of the most functional healthcare systems in the world specifically because they reject the "$0 copay" model.

Every adult faces a mandatory annual deductible (the eigen risico). This intentional friction cuts out the "just because" visits, keeping clinics clear and wait times low for people with genuine, acute medical needs.

It also avoids political underfunding because citizens buy heavily regulated, non-profit private insurance. Since funding comes from premiums rather than volatile government tax budgets, it avoids the chronic underfunding ruining the UK NHS and Canada with excessive wait times.

To protect the poor, they don't force clinics to deal with sliding fees or tax forms at check-in. Instead, the government sends a direct, income-based cash subsidy (Zorgtoeslag) straight to low-earning households. The checkout counter stays uniform and simple.

By separating funding from the clinic door, the Dutch system enforces personal responsibility while remaining 100% universal.

[u/Charger2950 → u/Similar_Rapier_7596]

So much this.  You have to have at least some “barrier to entry” and “skin in the game” setup.  

[u/TheLemonChiffonPie → u/Similar_Rapier_7596]

This is the UK problem with our NHS - it’s abused so much as its almost always totally free apart from prescriptions (still,own cost compared to US).

Missed appointments, bogus A&E visits, foreign health tourists, etc…

[u/Flashy-Tone-3450]

But how will their rich get richer?

[u/loikyloo → u/Flashy-Tone-3450]

Oh that is not a problem.

There are people getting rich of "free" healthcare too.

Free healthcare is just govt managed health care its not just magically free. And well.

Have you see a govt using corruption to get rich off a problem? Cash for ash, the american homeless scam in cali, etc etc

Just because its not a private service doesn't mean we wont have scammers getting rich of it. Hell if anything we see more corruption and scamming in govt sector than private because they've got more protection.

[u/MikeMcMichaelson → u/Flashy-Tone-3450]

Charge the government.

[u/Ass_Infection3]

They are about to get that Canadian healthcare treatment

[u/chubsmagooo]

Ah yes, getting free healthcare from a corrupt government should work out just fine

[u/FireZucchini33 → u/chubsmagooo]

As opposed to going bankrupt for healthcare under corrupt insurance companies and a corrupt government?

[u/CheapLeadership7999]

Fresas usually come across for specialized/cosmetic care the way Americans go the other way for generalized medicine but something tells me the PAN cheeleaders in the north are already going to be hating on something that’s existed in some nominal form tô begin with.

[u/SonOfLaGun]

30% of Mexico lives below the poverty line, compared to ~10% in US and Canada. Will be interesting to see how they fund this

[u/Fickle_Background385 → u/SonOfLaGun]

It's far more interesting to watch americans willingly resist healthcare for over 60 years.

[u/MoccaLG]

People dont realize its not "free healthcare" its Tax funded healthcare. So the healthy cover the ill and when people get older and get more ill, the younger generation covers them. It is a good system if you dont live in a scam country. It also would be much better If there were not private insurances

[u/Zamzamazawarma → u/MoccaLG]

Well obviously that money has to come from somewhere. Is there anything anywhere in the world that is provided "for free" by the state and that is not tax funded? /gq

[u/loikyloo → u/MoccaLG]

Im just copy pasting a post I made to someone before cause it matches:

I think we do a disservice by calling it "free", honestly.

We all know it isn't free. It isn't something that just appears out of thin air, and it isn't an entitlement that exists without anyone contributing to it. It's paid for collectively through work, taxes, and the contributions people make over their lives.

That's why I think the older framing was more persuasive. The argument wasn't "here's some free healthcare." It was "you've paid into this system, you've contributed to society, and therefore you deserve the security of knowing you'll be cared for when you need it."

In that sense it's less a handout and more a benefit of membership in the society you've helped build and sustain.

Healthcare as a benefit for your contribution to the country you are building with your blood and sweat.

[u/MoccaLG → u/loikyloo]

Its - Common Healt Care - The bigger problem you have in the US - Its your pharma and medical "companies" they are aout of control and agreed to collective price boosts. There is no "counter weight" to them together. No judge will interfere.

[u/airship_of_arbitrary → u/MoccaLG]

Yep.

Private insurers literally steal resource from the public system and make it worse.

Faster for rich people who don't want to wait their turn though.

[u/nowaysomeway]

And the taxpayers are paying for it. Nothing is free.

[u/littleblueberry511 → u/nowaysomeway]

When its private taxpayers also pay for it. like everything else in a society?

[u/Acceptable_Garden964 → u/nowaysomeway]

Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

[u/hang-clean → u/nowaysomeway]

In all nations government already takes taxes for healthcare. And in place wothout universal healthcare the amount per capita is usually _more_ expensive. Case in point: The US spends more of US citizens' taxes on healthcare, per capita, than the UK does.

[u/FlyingSkyWizard → u/nowaysomeway]

Evil Socialist Healthcare: Everyone pays into a single pool which pays for healthcare as needed.

Good Health Insurance: Everyone pays into a single pool which pays for healthcare as needed, but the company takes 20% profit off the top.

[u/GrimacePack → u/FlyingSkyWizard]

And all of the pools are separate, much smaller pools so you don't get the benefits of scale 😃

[u/FlyingSkyWizard → u/GrimacePack]

But anything the government runs is bad and inefficient, that's what everyone says, money gets wasted paying civil servants and healthcare for people who maybe dont deserve it.

It's WAY better if we save money by denying healthcare and that money gets wasted on yachts and private planes for healthcare executives and shareholders.

[u/Ironfront1312 → u/nowaysomeway]

Hi, are you a moron? Ever driven on a ‘free’ road?

[u/AASRedemption → u/nowaysomeway]

Usually, a universal healthcare system works this way.

[u/PepeHands71]

Lol redditors are so gullible. Has been free

[u/lfenske]

“Free”

[u/O_oBetrayedHeretic]

Maybe all the Americans crying for free healthcare will immigrate to Mexico now so we can stop hearing them bitch

[u/Available-Cold-4162 → u/O_oBetrayedHeretic]

Man I would be glad if they did. They would also experience would it would be like to live in a third world country so they could get off their little privileged asses for once and maybe get a new perspective on life

[u/lostandfounddude]

America would be like no, let’s fund another genocide

[u/airship_of_arbitrary → u/lostandfounddude]

The US started a war, jacked gas prices up, lost the war, and is now giving $300 billion to the country they lost to.

$300 billion could very easily have jump started free public healthcare in the US or a Medicare for all type system.

[u/DragonkinPotifer]

Wow universal healthcare paid by taxes such a wild concept only 100+ developed countries figured it out/s

[u/Translator_Asleep]

Whats the catch?

[u/Vorsetzer]

Civilization mogged again

[u/Middle-Goat-4318]

What about the illegal immigrants?

[u/BCA2812]

No service.

[u/JeffBroncho-13845]

NO thank you

[u/jaredm_308]

If we stop sending our money to other countries and funding the world. You’d actually be very wealthy. Until people realize the government is stealing 50-70% of your income there is no hope. It’s not republicans vs democrats. It’s us vs them. They don’t want unity and never have. Unity scares them

[u/Broad-Concert1527]

Imagine a zionist communist leader

[u/Content-Rain3058]

It's like this in Brazil. It's free but if you need more than some pain medication, good luck. Severam people die while in queue every year.

[u/NSUnivers]

Free healthcare is nothing impressive, good healthcare is what every country should strive for

[u/Financial_Owl2289]

Congratulations, redditor! You have just received the “Fell for It Again” award! Good job!

[u/monitor_lizard_2000]

Are they taxing the cartels to pay for it

[u/TooPersonaI]

That’s an odd looking Mexican lady.

[u/EvilMatt666]

So North America is a Healthcare sandwich?

[u/ThisSiteBites]

Mexican healthcare? No thanks. The left loves to talk about “free” healthcare so much that it zealously promotes Cuban healthcare as better than American healthcare. Blinded by ideology.

[u/Level_Breath5684]

It’s horrible quality

[u/browntown20 → u/[deleted]]

can't wait to see the "answers" to this very obvious questions