I moved to Canada recently and caught a flu that I didn't take care of and, in turn, developed into pneumonia. It took me FIVE days to be able sit down with a doctor and get an antibiotic prescribed even thought it was more than evident I needed immediate care. I could have died if I waited another day. But was it free? ... ehrm ... yeah.
In Mexico, doctors are as free market as it can get, downsides and upsides of that considered; with cash in hand you can get any kind of attention you need in the exact moment you need it. And it's not even that expensive, after converting MXN <-> USD. I could've dropped by with any of the 1,000s doctors that are available, many of which don't even require appointments. I would've got the attention I needed and the antibiotic prescription in 2-3 hours. That would had cost me ~60 USD.
> About one-third of Mexico’s registered workers report earning the minimum wage, which will amount to about $1.75 per hour starting Jan. 1.
$60 is 4 days wages for 1/3 of workers in Mexico. It's the equivalent of $820 for someone making 75k per year in the US. So it's the same as any other free-market healthcare system: easy access for the wealthy at the exclusion of the poor.
https://apnews.com/article/mexico-minimum-wage-increase-peso...
I'm not saying it's fair, I'm saying it's cheap, compared to the US as that is implied by the context of this conversation.
When you buy a $1 dollar shirt from Malaysia, is it cheap? Yes. Is it fair? Who knows.
It's the same thing.
Also, doctors in Mexico make way more than minimum wage, it's not unusual for some of them to have incomes around 200k-300k USD/year, plus read about RESICO and your jaw will drop to the floor. The average person in the US would kill to have the income and purchasing power doctors have in Mexico.
[1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/06/health-ins...
I went through that ordeal ~4 months ago, me, personally, I didn't read it on a magazine or whatever.