EVALUACIÓN DEL PROGRAMA DEL SEGURO POPULAR DEL 2002 AL 2005. Impacto en la utilización de servicios médicos, en el gasto en salud y en el mercado laboral

This article examines the impact of Seguro Popular (SP) in health services utiliza-tion, in the labor market, and in household health expenditures. Beneï¬ting from longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey, we use propensity score matching techniques to analyze the data by gender and population origin. In gen-eral, the SPhas not impacted the number of hospitalizations and out-patient con-sultations, with the exception of urban women. The analysis by institution shows that, in urban populations, the SPhas increased external consultations in the health care facilities provided by the Health Ministry. The SPshows a negative impact in the Mexican Institute of Social Security coverage, and in the formal employment of urban women and rural men. At the household level, we do not ï¬nd any effect on household health expenditures.