Mexico is nearing its goal of universal healthcare and already covers all services for young children, according to the Mexico Ministry of Health. While the US government continues to argue about President Obama’s Healthcare Reform law, Mexico has steadily closed its own gaps in coverage.

Just ten short years ago, more than half of Mexico’s population was living without health insurance. This dire state of affairs caused congress to pass the Seguro Popular (popular insurance) law, which guarantees care for all citizens. According to Mexico’s health minister Salomon Chertorivski, prior to passing the new law, only Mexicans who held a formal or salaried job enjoyed the support of a financial mechanism for healthcare.

Since the passing of Seguro Popular in 2004 Mexico has enrolled more than 50 million people in the plan, which Chertorivski says will reach universal coverage in December of this year. This means that every Mexican citizen will have access to a financial support mechanism for healthcare.

In addition to ensuring that universal coverage is reached, the challenges that are still left to overcome include standardizing the quality of care for all areas of Mexico, and improving preventative health measures throughout the population. To accomplish this, Mexico has been investing heavily in its infrastructure in recent years, building more than 1,000 new hospitals and clinics over the last five years alone. According to Chertorivski, the goal is to ensure that everyone receives the same quality of care regardless of where they may live. To this end, the government is also working to establish an electronic medical record system that will centralize health records for all participants.

When it comes to preventative care, Mexico has made progress but still has much ground to cover. While only 9 percent of the population has lived beyond 60 years of age in recent generations, by 2040 one in four Mexicans are expected to be over 60.

Today, 100% of all first care needs are covered under Seguro Popular, while 95% of secondary care is covered. All cancer treatments are covered for citizens under 18 years of age, as well as all breast, cervical and uterine cancers, testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and bone marrow transplantation for adults. In addition, everything is covered for children under five years of age.