This post is an update on the “70 y más” programme begun by Mexico’s federal government in 2007. The scheme provided universal pensions for rural residents aged 70 years and older. Beneficiaries receive one thousand pesos (US$78) in cash, bimonthly. At the end of last year (December 2011), there were a total of 2.1 million registered beneficiaries. The current government – at the beginning of the final year of its six-year term of office – announced that it was extending the programme to the entire country – urban as well as rural. By mid-September the number of registered beneficiaries had increased to “more than three million”, and government employees are working hard to bring that number to 3.5 million by the end of 2012.
A target of 3.5 million amounts to approximately 75% of Mexico’s 70+ population. This goal is less than 100% coverage, because 70+ benefits are no longer universal (except in a geographic sense). Residents with access to some type of federal pension – from Social Security, the military, civil service, or Pemex (the state oil company) – are not eligible. Such a rule would have been superfluous in the past, because few if any federal pensioners reside in rural areas. Two rules, however, work to increase the number of those eligible for benefits. First, the federal pension test applies to individuals, not households. The fact that a person’s spouse receives a pension does not make her (or him) ineligible for a 70+ pension. The 70+ pension, in short, has been transformed into a universal minimum pension.
Second, the pension test applies only to federal pensions. It is perfectly legal for a person to apply for a 70+ pension while receiving benefits from a state government. Two of the state governments have universal pensions for residents: Chiapas (MX$550 monthly from age 64) and Mexico City (MX$935 monthly from age 68). Residents older than 70 years of age in those states are entitled to double benefits, i.e. to a minimum pension totaling MX$1050 (US$82) a month in Chiapas and MS$1435 (US$112) in Mexico City.
Some of the remaining 30 states of the Mexican federation have provided their elderly with means-tested benefits, often only for residents of cities previously not covered by the federal programme. I am attempting to discover what has happened with those programmes following extension of the 70+ scheme to urban centres, and will report back with my findings.
La Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (Sedesol), informa que continúan abiertas las ventanillas de atención a los adultos mayores de 70 años, por lo que quienes viven en zonas semiurbanas y urbanas aún pueden acudir a inscribirse.
Debido a la respuesta obtenida, el titular de la Sedesol, Heriberto Félix Guerra, decidió mantener la atención a los adultos de forma permanente y hasta fin de año, a fin de que ningún adulto mayor de 70 años quede fuera de lo que es ya la mayor red de protección social. …
Los apoyos económicos se entregan de forma bimestral por un monto de mil pesos y se depositan en una tarjeta bancaria, para garantizar transparencia y otorgar seguridad a los beneficiarios.
El “70 y más” tiene como propósito el que los adultos mayores puedan contar con recursos económicos que les permitan comprar sus alimentos y medicamentos, entre otros beneficios importantes, y tener una mejor calidad de vida.
Hasta diciembre de 2011, el “Programa 70 y más” operaba con 2.1 millones de beneficiarios en zonas rurales; sin embargo, este año amplió su cobertura para llegar a zonas semi-urbanas y urbanas y se espera alcanzar un padrón de 3.5 millones de adultos mayores al cierre del año.
[snip]
SEDESOL, “Continúa la Inscripción al Programa ’70 y más’ Urbano“, Comunicado de Prensa No. 736/180912, México, D.F., 18 September 2012
Tags: Mexico
