IMSS Celebrates 80 Years of Guaranteeing Social Security

Labor representatives, businessmen and government officials celebrated the Mexican Institute of Social Security’s (IMSS) 80th anniversary, highlighting that the institute’s main objective is to protect workers, ensure their salary, benefits and productive capacity and provide peace of mind to families. As of Dec. 31, 2022, there are 21.37 million formal jobs registered at IMSS of which 86.6 percent are permanent.

IMSS is a decentralized body of the Mexican federal government dedicated to provide health and social security services to its affiliates. “Thanks to the IMSS we enjoy the certainty and security offered by knowing that we will be well attended to in case of any health problem. IMSS benefits represent a huge incentive to join the formal work environment,” says Héctor Tejada, President, CONCANACO SERVYTUR. 

The institute has been gradually extending its services to a larger scope of the population. For example, the Chamber of Deputies recently approved a reform of the Social Security Law that makes affiliating domestic workers to social security mandatory. The reform will grant domestic workers access to several types of insurance, covering sickness, maternity leave, work risks, disability, retirement, unemployment in old age and nurseries, among other social benefits, as reported by MBN.

“The essence of the IMSS is to provide care to the affiliates and it also has the basic and supportive function of providing universal and free medical care to all Mexicans who do not have social security through IMSS Bienestar,” says President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. 

López Obrador’s plan for 2023 focuses on fixing health centers, medical units and hospitals. This plan has already been put in motion in Nayarit, Colima, Tlaxcala, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Veracruz, Guerrero and Campeche. 

“In his 80 years @Tu_IMSS is in his prime. At the age when birthdays stop and dreams begin to come true, including the birth of the IMSS for those who do not have IMSS: the @IMSSBIENESTAR,” tweeted Zoé Robledo, Director General, IMSS. However, analysts point out it is virtually impossible to achieve this health system within the remaining two years of López Obrador’s administration, as reported by MBN.