Current Seguro Popular Requirements

If you are FM III, you might want to simply declare whatever you declared on your application as your annual or monthly income.  My experience has been that they are fairly blunt and accurate about what the particulars are.   I know of a couple of slugs who went and tried to get the lowest rate possible by simply "misstating" their Mexico income....primarily an annuity check and social security....although they make much more.  In fairness they keep those income sources on the American side, but they really have no need to try to save 30 or 40 dollars a year on a coverage plan that is already ridiculously subsidised and inexpensive.
     For the last few years, under the PAN, the bureaucrats have been pretty much loyal to the "computer printout" and do not go through the song and dance and passive shakedowns so common during the PRI days.   At least that is my experience.  I hope, and it may well be, that the new PRI administration will just allow this compliant, computerised "just the facts, ma'am" system will continue.

Hope this helps, at least a little.
El Gringo Viejo

Thanks for the reply.  Below is the current list of annual premiums for the 10 deciles.  My main curiosity is the income maximums for each of the deciles.

Cuotas vigentes
Decil de ingreso
Cuota anual familiar (en pesos)
I    0.00
II   0.00
III  0.00
IV   0.00
V    2,074.97
VI   2,833.56
VII  3,647.93
VIII 5,650.38
IX   7,518.97
X    11,378.86

Even at the top tier, it's less than $1000/yr right now.  And that's a bargain for for routine medical coverage.  You made a good point about being honest, lately dealing with Mexican government agencies has been simple and straightforward as long as I keep things simple and straightforward. I suppose a current bank statement where my SS and annuity checks are deposited would do.  There are times that coming up with the $160 to maybe $300-400 in cash would be inconvenient.  I also have a place in TX and get my serious medical care there so I'm looking to Seguro Popular for emergency care and routine stuff that doesn't call for a trip to the US.

[justify]

All I can help you with is that the lowest category of payment 2074.97 pesos is for folks who are being paid the official minimum wage, in a formal way.  Most of those folks will have Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social coverage as well, if they are "formalised".

     The income tax top-tier I believe is the equivalent of about 36,000 dollars....if the same level system is being used by the Secretaria de Hacienda.
     We declare an income of 20,000/year in American dollars (a little over $260,000 mex.cur.), and we only insure your humble servant because my wife has an American insurance policy that names all the hospitals that we would normally use in Monterrey, Victoria, Tampico, etc.   She is still professionally employed in Texas. She comes down when she can.   I go up when it is necessary.  I paid the 5,650 peso fee.

    We have a man upon whom we depend for 90% of our stewardship of our little property and home.   He is a pre-canonised Saint (with a bit of the Devil in him).   He is not a "formalised" employee, by his own choice.   But we pay his Seguro Popular, and he simply pays the minimum, in cash, once a year.  He has used the service once, for a really bad reaction to a bee sting.  He said it was all positive.  No nagging, no waiting, no charges, clean, and good-bye!

     We are in a bit of a position where, in Cd.Victoria, the veterinarian Hospital Civil, is actually a pretty good facility.  So we are thinking about just paying cash.   We have a very close friend who had an appendectomy (emergency) about three months ago.  The total bill was 90,000 pesos....total.
     It should be noted that in recovery there were prisoners, wealthy people with fancy Mexican insurance, people with the Social Security classical insurance, and Seguro Popular.  They were all being dealt with the same....Our friend was in and out in three days and a fraction....the two follow-ups were included in the charges.

     Please forgive the verbosity.  We try to wrap up an issue like a ball of yarn....so that the conversation partner has our best impression of the issue or of the answer to the question under consideration.[/justify]

I'm probably in the same position as you regarding Seguro Popular.  It's dirt cheap for things like appendectomies and such.
My experience with paying cash was that specialists were not all that reasonable when dealing with angioplasty and possible cardiac bypass.  The procedure, placing 3 or 4 stents could have run to 120,000MN.  That's still a lot more than out of pocket cost under Medicare including premiums for Part B.  That's what sent me to the US and Medicare even though it's also dirt cheap compared to list prices in the US.

At age 68, I looked into private insurance in Mexico.  Around $3600/yr USD and doesn't ever cover pre-existing conditions.

I should have said thank you for the quick and helpful response.

A side note on prescription drugs.
I did have cardiac bypass in the US and was prescribed 2 pretty expensive drugs.  Multaq which is just not available in Mexico and Pradaxa which, until recently, was not available in the correct dose.  The two drugs put me in the donut hole in 2011 after 5 months and in 2012 as of July.  I got a couple of extra months because the cardiologist took me off Multaq in May. 

Pradaxa before the donut hole has a copay of $80/mo.  Full price in Mexico is $60/mo.
Crestor (generic) is $56/mo.
Metoprolol is only available in Mexico in 100mg tablets which I'd have to cut in quarters.  I can do 1/2 accuratelt enough but fourths, no.  I get it in the right dose a Walmart in McAllen 3 months supply at a time for $10 w/o Insurance and I have at least a 60 day surplus stock because I can get refills as far ahead as I like; there is no insurance company to tell me I have to wait.
Janumet 50-500 goes for about a $30 copay and about $50/mo. in Mexico.

Unless something drastic happens, I could give up Part D., but recognizing that many drugs are just not available in Mexico, paying the extra $20/mo. for Part D. avoids a possiblr penny wise, pound foolish situation.

Take care...

It is a wonderland.   And the Mexican insurance is more than a little cumbersome.   My main take is that for gun shot wounds, snake bites, and Alvaro's bee sting histiminic reaction the Popular is a good arrow for the quiver.
    What are you doing in Zacatecas with all that hardware in your aorta?  Maybe it's good therapy, actually!   Cold but nice place...even if a coastal, flatlander like me goes a bit light-headed sometimes.

There is nothing conventional about me.
1982-1985 I worked for GM in Saltillo during the start up of the then new assembly plant.  I got to travel around the country pretty extensively.  I knew I wanted to retire in Mexico in a location not too hot, not TOO cold, not an expat colony, well positioned for travel to the rest of the country, fairly convenient to the border and not too expensive.  Zacatecas comes close to meeting all of those requirements plus it's like a living museum, pretty compact with friendly people.  The winters are a bit rougher than I expected.  We have a couple of gas space heaters that do the job well enough.  If we get tired of winter we can always take a break further south.

I ended up detouring around the stents and going straight for triple bypass which doesn't involve any hardware except the wire that closes up your rib cage after the surgery.  I don't have any trouble getting around here up and down the hills.  My walk to the dentist today was 1.6 mi. down 86 steps, a short flat stretch and a short uphill, short downhill to downtown afterwards, flat to the post office and McDonalds and then a one block steep uphill and finally the 86 steps up a two block callejon.  I get a bit winded if I try to walk too fast but recover after a minute's rest.  My cardiologist is blown away by how quickly and strongly I am recovering.  He forgets that in McAllen, for me, it's like having an oxygen mask on.

I went down and signed up for Seguro Popular today.
There was one requirement missing from their website.  As a foreigner you are required to bring your passport along with a copy of the data page.  The INM picture ID works for oficial credential con foto.  I couldn't find the original of my CURP but a printout of a scanned copy worked since the CURP is on the INM card.  Lacking the passport, I was given a 30 day poliza.  Upon presentation of the passport I will be given a 3 year poliza.

The procedure was kind of interesting.
I waited in line about 10 minutes for a young lady to take my documents and enter me into the system.  She asked if I wasn't eligible for IMSS to which I replied I had never worked in Mexico, my level of education, whether I rented or owned, how many bedrooms, were the floors tiled or something else and when it came to my profession, I said I was retired (jubilado) and that I didn't work.  She gave me a printout to take and wait another 10 minutes for a young man to take my height, weight, blood pressure, glucose and electronically record my fingerprints in the system.  He gave me a slip that proved my vitals had been entered.  Back to the first young lady with the original form and comprobante in hand.  While waiting, I noticed I had been put in decile II which means I don't pay any premium.  The magic words must have been never worked in Mexico and jubilado.  The whole process took somewhere between an hour, hour and a half.

The centro de salud and the general hospital are both fairly new.  The centro looks pretty decent inside compared to some doctor and dentist's offices I've seen.

I read somewhere you're entitled to an intake physical.  I'll ask about seing a doctor when I turn in my passport.  I want to find out exactly what I might be entitled to for treatment for hernia, arthritis, cataracts and get feel for whether I even want to consider undergoing surgery.

You don't need prior working experience in Mexico to join IMSS. I have been debating either SS or IMSS, however, I am currrently under doctor's care for my heart, thus I would have a wait period of a year or so. I am interested in the cost and the wait period for current problems.

I understood that a person could pay the premiums for IMSS themselves.  The other piece of the puzzle as I understood it, read somewhere, you had to be a permanent resident, former FM2, to be able to join IMSS.  Is that incorrect?

I hadn't really thought about IMSS or Seguro Popular until recently even though I've been in Mexico this time around.  I have a place and am covered under Medicare.  The trip to McAllen is not onerous but if I can cut those trips to a minimum without risking my health, it'll help a little financially.

I'm going to have to investigate in depth by asking to see a doctor next time I go to the centro de salud with my passport and find out exactly what the deal is on pre-existing conditions.  Since they did classify me as non-paying, I'm going to take it easy.  I also read somewhere I'm entitled to a physical and evaluation of my complete health status.  Prior to that, all I can offer is, I think I read on the Seguro Popular website a couple of years ago that pre-existing conditions are not covered ever.  Then again, there may be a great deal of variation from one location to another.  I'll post an update when I find out.

you might want to pop over to this guys site and give it a read Rolly Brook

Thanks, I had looked at the site before but didn't remember anything about IMSS.  I'll take another look.  Memory is not what it used to be.

I'm signed up with Seguro Popular.  We'll see how it goes.  Oddly enough, I got some good advice from a Farmacias Similares doc, better than 3 expensive dud specialists I saw 2 years ago.  The market doesn't do a very good job of weeding out the incompetents.