Out-of-Pocket Expenditure vs COVID-19

You can read our editorial coverage of this panel here.

The pandemic created an opportunity to be creative in tailoring insurance schemes that can help reduce the individual burden of out-of-pocket spending on health services, agreed experts on Day 2 of Mexico Health Summit in a panel moderated by Eduardo Lara, Vice President and Head of Health Latin America at RGA. Lara pointed out that health financing in Mexico is very inefficient and that the worst way to pay for healthcare is out of pocket. To reduce this common practice, Javier Potes, Director General of Consorcio Mexicano de Hospitales (CMH), said schemes need to be redesigned to include minor medical expenses. Regarding COVID-19, Eduardo García Luna, Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences at UDEM, pointed out that previously, pandemics have not been covered by insurance. Now, companies have taken steps to cover treatments for this disease. Héctor Martinez Said, President of the Mexican Society of Oncology, also recognized the current health crisis as a critical moment to shifting the insurance approach.