[Impact of "Seguro Popular" on catastrophic and out-of-pocket health expenditures in rural and urban Mexico, 2005-2008].

OBJECTIVE To estimate the effect of "Seguro Popular" (SP) on the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure in the medium term. MATERIAL AND METHODS We used the 'Encuesta de Evaluación del SP' --SP Survey Evaluation-- (2005-2008). We analyzed the SP effect on the rural cohort during two years of follow-up (2006 and 2008) and in the urban cohort during one year of follow-up (2008). RESULTS At the local level (regional clusters) we did not find an effect of the SP. At the household level we found a protective effect of SP on CHE and the OOP health payments in outpatient and hospitalization in rural areas; and a significant effect on the reduction of OOP health payments in outpatient services in urban zones. CONCLUSIONS SP seems to be an effective program to protect poor household against out-of-pocket health expenditures in the medium term.