Data from: Medical expenditure for chronic diseases in Mexico: the case of selected diagnoses treated by the largest care providers

Background: Chronic diseases (CD) are a public health emergency in Mexico.
Despite concern regarding the financial burden of CDs in the country,
economic studies have focused only on diabetes, hypertension, and cancer.
Furthermore, these estimated financial burdens were based on hypothetical
epidemiology models or ideal healthcare scenarios. The present study
estimates the annual expenditure per patient and the financial burden for
the nine most prevalent CDs, excluding cancer, for each of the two largest
public health providers in the country: the Ministry of Health (MoH) and
the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). Methods: Using the
Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012 (ENSANUT) as the main
source of data, health services consumption related to CDs was obtained
from patient reports. Unit costs for each provided health service (e.g.
consultation, drugs, hospitalization) were obtained from official reports.
Prevalence data was obtained from the published literature. Annual
expenditure due to health services consumption was calculated by
multiplying the quantity of services consumed by the unit cost of each
health service. Results: The most expensive CD in both health institutions
was chronic kidney disease (CKD), with an annual unit cost for MoH per
patient of US$ 8,966 while for IMSS the expenditure was US$ 9,091. Four
CDs (CKD, arterial hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and chronic ischemic
heart disease) accounted for 88% of the total CDs financial burden (US$
1.42 billion) in MoH and 85% (US$ 3.96 billion) in IMSS. The financial
burden of the nine CDs analyzed represents 8% and 25% of the total annual
MoH and IMSS health expenditure, respectively. Conclusions/Significance:
The financial burden from the nine most prevalent CDs, excluding cancer,
is already high in Mexico. This finding by itself argues for the need to
improve health promotion and disease detection, diagnosis, and treatment
to ensure CD primary and secondary prevention. If the status quo remains,
the financial burden could be higher.