Medical care in Mexico.

I have a friend in Zihua with a limited income and a child that needs to be seen by a doctor in Michoacan on a regular basis. The doctor visit costs 5500 Pesos. I was under the impression that only in the US people have to pay for doctor visits. Is the system in Mexico equally backward? Living in Europe many years ago, when I got sick, my mother would call the doctor who would come, check me out, write a prescription and there was never a bill. Doesn't Mexico have a similar system, at least for the financially stressed?

Mexico is working on their universal healthcare system, but there's still a long ways to go. They can go to the local clinic or DIF, but if they don't have ISSSTE (for state workers) or IMSS (Seguro Social), then for more advanced medicine it's more complicated. When I had my cataract surgery it was with a state clinic, and I was billed according to my ability to pay, so I saved a lot of money, but I still had to pay something. I would recommend they sign up with IMSS if they haven't already.