States Cut Health Budgets Despite Pandemic: IMCO
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States Cut Health Budgets Despite Pandemic: IMCO

Photo by:   Scott Graham, unsplash
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Alfonso Núñez By Alfonso Núñez | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Wed, 10/20/2021 - 16:52

The Mexican Competitiveness Institute (IMCO) found that states healthcare budgets contracted by 2 percent during 2020, in comparison to 2019. In a recent study, the institute analyzed the allocation of funds by Mexican states throughout 2020, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic became the world’s number one priority.

 

While some expected that Mexican states would reallocate spending and increase the health sector’s budget, IMCO’s report found that on average, only 14 percent of the state’s respective budgets were spent on healthcare while 34 percent of resources went to education and 9 percent towards public safety and justice.

 

The impact of these budget cuts can be linked to the number of COVID-19 cases across the country. Baja California, currently the only Mexican state operating under orange light restrictions while the rest of country has moved to the safer green and yellow lights, reduced its health budget by 18 percent. Meanwhile, the state surpassed its suggested budget for expenses and transportation for public officials by 39 percent, reports IMCO.

 

Many of the federal suggestions for state budget allocations were ignored, according to the institute. In its 2021 State Expenditure Report (IEEG), IMCO found an overall compliance of 87 percent per suggested budget spending by state governments, with four states falling below 70 percent compliance and Chihuahua reaching the lowest percentage at 58.

 

It is possible that local governments had to increase education and public safety budgets as a direct result of the pandemic—with socially distanced learning presenting new challenges and crime across the country continuing to pose a significant threat to citizens’ safety. But during the global pandemic many other countries increased their health budget; health spending is set to outpace GDP growth by 2030 in almost every OECD country, including the US, Switzerland, France and Belgium.

 

Prior to the pandemic, budget cuts by the then-newly elected government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had already resulted in reductions in testing and staffing shortages. At the start of the pandemic, an estimated 16.2 percent of Mexican citizens did not have access to medical services. An increase from the estimated 15.5 percent two years prior. For many, the pandemic could not have arrived at a worse time and Mexico’s mortality rate ranked amongst the 20 highest worldwide as a result of the pandemic

Photo by:   Scott Graham, unsplash

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