Calderón on universal health insurance

In his 2009 State of the Union president Calderon of Mexico included universal health coverage as one of ten points he believes should be attained in order to improve the conditions of all Mexicans. This objective, which has been demanded in most countries since last decades, should be analyzed carefully. Universal coverage means that all Mexican will be covered by any social security institution or the Seguro Popular? This was already stated when the Seguro Popular was implemented. Or, does it mean that all Mexicans will have the same entitlements? Does it mean that the organizational structure of a highly segmented (see here) Mexican healthcare system will change? We do believe that in order to advance in the topic, many issues should be analyzed in the process of health care delivery: i)affiliation, ii) organization and management of care consumption, and iii) provision (see our 2008 Social Security Report). First, universal coverage can mean many different things across the process of care delivery, And second, universal coverage is only the first step in order to improve the Mexican health care system, a second and equally important hurdle to overcome is the segmentation and lack of competition across public social health insurance institutions.