A consequence of low levels of government health spending, is the relevant participation of the private market. Most of this privately purchased health care is paid through out-of-pocket transactions, as private insurance makes up a very small segment of the market (approximately 4% of total health expenditures). Mexico has the highest out-of-pocket share of total health care spending among OECD countries: out-of-pocket health spending (paid directly by patients) in 2017 reached 40.4% of total spending (OECD, n.d.; OECD, 2016b).

Despite slightly decreasing from 55% in 2005, out-of-pocket health spending (paid directly by patients) in Mexico in 2017 still amounted to 40.4% of total spending. As a result, the high burden of out-of-pocket spending continues to create financial barriers to health care access, particularly for the low-income population. In this same year, government/compulsory health spending represented 51.6% of total health expenditures, while the remaining 8% corresponded to health expenditures by the voluntary sector (NGOs and private corporations) (OECD, n.d.)

References:

OECD. (n.d.). Health data. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm

OECD. (2016b). OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Mexico. In OECD Publishing (Ed.), OECD Reviews of Health Systems (OECD Reviews of Health Systems). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/f7b8c403-ja