Household Expenditure in Health in Mexico, 2016

The aim of this research is to evaluate the financial protection of public health insurance by analyzing the percentage of households with catastrophic expenditure in health (HCEH) in Mexico and its relationship with the condition of poverty, the state, the condition of insurance, and the items of health expenditure. A special emphasis was placed on the poorest households (income quintile I). Method: The National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2002–2016 was used to estimate the percentage of HCEH. The analysis was carried out with Stata-SE 12. Results: in 2016 there was 2.13% of HCEH (1.82–2.34%, N = 657,474). Conclusions: the percentage of HCEH decreased in recent years, although in 2016 it increased slightly, improving financial protection in health. This decrease seems to have stagnated, maintaining inequities in access to health services, especially in the rural population without affiliation to any health institution. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.