Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Mexico City

The public systems

Formal employees are registered with IMSS by their employer, which assigns a clínica familiar — a family medicine unit determined by your address — as the first point of contact for everything. ISSSTE covers state employees on a parallel system. Self-employed people can apply for voluntary IMSS enrolment, which is inexpensive annually but carries waiting periods and exclusions for pre-existing conditions. IMSS-Bienestar provides care for people outside those schemes.

• Your employer registers you; ask which UMF (family medicine unit) you have been assigned.
• Your assigned clinic follows your registered address, so it changes when you move.
• Voluntary IMSS enrolment excludes pre-existing conditions and has waiting periods by treatment type.

Private care and how it is paid for

Mexico City has excellent private hospitals and a deep bench of specialists, many trained abroad and working in English. Most private care is paid either in cash at published prices, which are low by North American standards, or through a major-medical policy that engages only above a deductible. Employers frequently provide a group major-medical plan as a benefit; read what its deductible and coinsurance actually are.

• Gastos médicos mayores: hospital and surgery cover, with deductible plus coinsurance.
• Routine consultations are usually paid in cash, and are affordable.
• Check whether a policy is nationwide or restricted to a network of hospitals.

Pharmacies and everyday illness

Many pharmacy chains operate a consultorio anexo — a small doctor's surgery attached to the shop — offering a consultation for a nominal fee with no appointment. It is how a large part of the population handles minor illness and it is genuinely useful for a fever or an infection. Pharmacists dispense a wider range without prescription than in Europe, though antibiotics do require one.

Altitude, air and water

The city sits at around 2,240 metres, and new arrivals commonly feel it for the first week or two: breathlessness on stairs, poor sleep, less tolerance for alcohol. Air quality varies by season and the city declares environmental contingencies when it worsens, which also restricts driving. Tap water is not drunk; households use a garrafón delivery or a filter, and this is universal rather than a foreigner's precaution.