New Leaders, New Health Policies

Every twelve years, the Mexican and American elections align. In my community, which lies in the northeast part of Mexico, a municipality right beside the city of Monterrey, it means that every twelve years, the political chatter becomes louder than usual. 2024 was no exception, except I started paying attention to the chatter this time. 

This year has been historic for Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as Mexico’s first female president against her opponent Xóchil ( sho-chil) Gálvez. According to The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE or INE in Spanish), Claudia Sheinbaum received 59% of the votes, getting more than half of the votes that Xóchil Galvez received. For the United States, the landscape has changed from the 2020 elections. Donald Trump won against his candidate Kamala Harris, resulting in a 312 to 226 in his favor (New York Times, 2024). 

But what are these leaders’ policies on health? What are they planning to do that will improve our health systems? Both countries are similar in terms of global health, with the United States in 69th place and Mexico in 71st place (Vankar, 2023). The Mexican health system is mainly composed of three features: social security, based on one’s employment, public assistance services to those who do not have insurance, and a private sector, which counts on independent insurance providers (Portillo, 2023). The American healthcare system functions similarly, combining both the usage of private and public insurance. The system is also comprised of Medicare, which is government-issued health insurance for anybody above the age of 65, some individuals with disabilities, some veterans, and some low-income families. They also use Medicaid, provided to low-income families and children (The Commonwealth Fund, 2020).

Claudia Sheinbaum is focusing on five initiatives that will improve the health of Mexicans, especially those who don’t have access to quality healthcare. They are the following: 

• First, Sheinbaum wants to expand on disease prevention and focus on improving everyday health. This includes actions like banning sugar from schools and increasing vaccination efforts nationwide. 

• Next, Sheinbaum wants to improve quality care in rural hospitals by providing surgical teams that reduce wait times. 

• She also wants to expand the IMSS-Bienestar, (National Mexican Institute of Social Security) for citizens who do not qualify for the system, or for those whose employment does not cover their insurance. 

• Improve the supplies of medicines by investing 6.4 billion dollars into supplies and distributing them to state-run hospitals. 

• Finally, allowing anybody to enter hospitals regardless of their insurance system and receive adequate care with the proper technology (MND Staff, 2024).

On the other hand, Donald Trump Takes a different approach. In the last newsletter, I discussed how the future president, is currently in the works of a plan. He has a concept that would replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Trump wants to replace it with something more affordable, and accessible (Kekatos, 2024). Recently, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy to be the Head of the Health and Human Services Dept. This is a risky bid considering that R.F.K. has some controversial views on health, including vaccine skepticism and unorthodox views of health (Gay-Stolberg, 2024). Other than that, there is no available information on what Trump is planning to do in his presidency, which leaves that subject in a tricky situation.

Based on these findings, both countries aren’t too far behind each other. While Mexico does have the initiatives planned out, the country has an undeniable and hefty history involving lots of corruption. The United States has no health plan, but its healthcare is ridiculously expensive, It's still much higher quality than Mexico. Ultimately, Sheinbaum has a plan and Donald Trump does not. Having a prepared plan gives Mexico an advantage over the healthcare systems of both countries, but only the future will know if these plans follow through.

It's important to note that both countries have their weaknesses. Mexico is a third-world country that still lacks hospital care in rural areas. American healthcare has prices that are sky-high and make it hard for the average American to pay off their medical bills. While Mexico is doing better in terms of proposals, can both countries keep up with the health innovations that the world keeps pumping out?

Works Cited

The Commonwealth Fund. “United States | International Health Care System Profiles.” Commonwealth Fund, 5 June 2020, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/united-states.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

Gay Stolberg, Sheryl. “Trump Picks R.F.K. Jr. to Be Head of Health and Human Services Dept.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 November 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/us/politics/rfk-jr-trump-hhs.html?searchResultPosition=1.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

Kekatos, Mary. “Trump said he has 'concepts' of a health care plan. What we know about his policies.” ABC News, 11 September 2024, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trump-concepts-health-care-plan-policies/story?id=113583973.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

MDN Staff. “Sheinbaum's 5 new initiatives to improve Mexicans’ health.” Mexico News Daily, 5 November 2024, https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-healthcare-plan/.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

Portillo, Athziry. “Evaluación del panorama actual de los Sistemas de Salud: Retos y oportunidades en México.” Gaceta FacMed, 14 June 2023, https://gaceta.facmed.unam.mx/index.php/2023/06/14/evaluacion-del-panorama-actual-de-los-sistemas-de-salud-retos-y-oportunidades-en-mexico/.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

“Presidential Election Results Map: Trump Wins.” The New York Times, 5 November 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/05/us/elections/results-president.html.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

“Publicación.” PREP del INE, 2024, https://prep2024.ine.mx/publicacion/nacional/presidencia/nacional/candidatura.  Accessed 15 November 2024.

Vankar, Preeti. “Health and health system ranking of countries worldwide in 2023.” Statista, 24 September 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1376359/health-and-health-system-ranking-of-countries-worldwide/.  Accessed 15 November 2024.