Sign Up for IMSS Medical Insurance

Many people who move to Yucatan are interested in signing up for health insurance provided by Mexico. This insurance is provided by IMSS, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano de Seguridad Social).  This insurance provides national healthcare to any employed Mexican, as well as to any resident who wants to pay the yearly fee. You do not have to be a Mexican national to sign up for and enjoy the benefits of IMSS healthcare.

As a resident of Mexico (but not a citizen), you must renew your insurance affiliation on an annual basis. The payments each year are determined by your age at the time that you sign up and are as follows:

*These prices are valid for 2012.

The affiliation should be made by a minimum of 2 people (if you are on your own and do not have another family member to do it with, you should state so under oath of telling the truth in a letter signed by you).

• The benefits start in the first day of the following month of your affiliation.
• On the first year you will only receive medical attention; starting from the second year you can receive medical attention plus surgeries, medicine supplies and hospital attention.
• You will have to fill a medical questionnaire with personal information; it is worth mentioning that if you have any of the following diseases you won´t be candidate to obtain the Social Security:
• Allergy or asthma.
• Chronic diseases of the blood.
• Cancer or tumors.

Diabetes mellitus with:

• Renal failure
• Retinophaty
• Neuropathy
• Peripheral circulatory failure
• Heart diseases.
• Liver diseases.
• Nervous disorders or chronic psychiatric.
• High blood pressure.
• Rheumatism or arthritis.
• Tuberculosis.
• Stomach ulcer.
• AIDS.
• HIV positive.
• Congenital diseases (from birth).
• Chronic bronchitis
• Vascular accident or strokes.
• Deformation or movement limitations by accidents or diseases.
• Alcohol addiction.
• Toxic substance addiction.

If after learning this, you think Social Security is the option for you, these are the steps to follow:

1st – Put your documents together.
This is the list of documents you need to gather to file before Social Security in original and copy:
   1. Birth certificate (if not in Spanish, it needs to be translated by a certified translator).
  2. Passport.
  3. FM3 or FM2.
  4. CURP.
  5. Proof of your legal address in Yucatan (it does not have to be under your name, but it needs to be recent, at the maximum 2 months old; it can be water, phone or electrical bill).
  6. Marriage certificate in case the applicants are married (if not in Spanish it needs to be translated by a certified translator).
  7. 4 pictures infant size (2.5 x 3 cm) black and white.

2nd – Go to IMSS offices.


There are 2 offices in Merida where you can file and depending on the area where you live is the one where you should go.

• “La Ceiba” (mostly north and downtown Merida but we recommend you to call first, just to make sure).
• Address: Avenue 7 between 38 and 40 # 131 Pensiones. Phone: 925.79.18.
• “42 Sur” (Progreso and the rest of the beach and towns, but we recommend you to call first, just to make sure).
• Address: Street 131 x 42 Sur. Phone: 940.37.82.
• IMSS offices open at 8 AM and close for these type of procedures at 2 PM; we suggest that you go early because it gets crowded and also because if you forget to take a document with you or something is incorrect, you still would have time to go get it and return before they close and it will continue to be just a one day visit.

3rd – Inside the office

First of all you will need to show to a person all the documents that you bring and tell him that you would like to do a “Afiliación Voluntaria”; if you have everything correct he will give you a ticket with a number to pass to the window seven; look for a place to sit because it may take some time; however the office has air conditioning and most of the time you will find a place to sit.
Your number will be called through a digital screen, when this happens you will go to window seven and another person will start to ask you for the documents on the list, you should give him everything, make sure they give you back your originals since they only need them to see if the copies are the same. Most likely this person won´t speak English.

4th – Going to the bank


If your documents are correct, you will receive a piece of paper which you will need to take to the nearest bank to pay the annual fees, as mentioned at the beginning of this article (recognized banks to do this payment are: Banamex, Scotiabank and HSBC). After you have made the payment you will need to return to the IMSS office to give the receipt with a copy (there are copy stores in front of both IMSS´s offices, go there first because once you are with the officer and the copy is missing, he will make you go back and get it!).

5th – Getting the “Carnet”


Once you give him the receipt of payment and its copy you will be provided with the “Carnet” and the address of the clinic where you can go and other papers that you need to present at that clinic.
They will ask you to go to the clinic a month after the affiliation.

6th – Going to your clinic


A month after you received your “Carnet”, you have to go to your clinic to finish the process. Two things have to be accomplished there:
1. Get your schedule and number office.

Inside the clinic go to window number one, which is called “Archivo”, the person there will ask for your “Carnet” and will give you your schedule (time when you can go to see your doctor). Also he will give you the number of the doctor´s office where you will always be attended.

1. Get your ADIMSS card.
When you finish at window number one, you need to go the “ADIMSS” module. You can ask the person at window one where it is, because they are placed differently at every clinic.

Once you are at the “ADIMSS” module, you need to provide the following documents, always in original and copy:

• Passport.
• FM2 / FM3.
• Proof of your legal address in Yucatan (it does not have to be under your name, but it needs to be recent, at the maximum 2 months old; it can be water, phone or electrical bill).
• CURP.
• Carnet.

Give all the papers to the person there and he will take you a picture and your fingerprints.  After that you have to wait no more than 20 minutes and your card will be ready.  End of the process, now you are an IMSS affiliated!