Mexico's House-to-House Health Program is Anti-Fascism in Action.

In addition to providing needed medical services.

Claudia Sheinbaum, architect of the public health program, is sworn in as Mexico’s President.

As the American Presidential election nears, there’s been much debate about the best ways to defeat Donald Trump and his pseudo-populist fascism. Kamala Harris has decided she will try to do so by enlisting the help of the Cheney family, a move that could win over the votes of the two dozen The Atlantic writers still up for grabs. Putting aside the fact Donald Trump captured the Republican Party by antagonizing neoconservatives like Dick Cheney, Harris’ strategy is willfully short-sighted. Even if it works, no American is going to be permanently turned away from reactionary politics because the “not Donald Trump” candidate got a big-name endorsement in the 2024 election. While undecided independents might vote for Harris this cycle, her milquetoast campaign strategy leaves them susceptible to being courted by the Presidential campaign of J.D. Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, or whichever Republican wins over Fox News and becomes Trump’s successor.

Harris’ meager approach to combatting the reactionary tide stands in stark contrast to the strategy being implemented across America’s southern border. Last week, newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo launched her “House-to-House Health” program, which will deliver in-home healthcare to elderly and disabled Mexicans. Similar social programs have worked so well in Mexico that the country faces a nice-to-have problem: citizens live longer. As Mexican life expectancy has risen from less than 48 years in 1950 to the current 75.5, it has struggled to find ways to handle the problems of eldercare, especially in remote regions.¹ House-to-House Health aims to solve that by assessing community needs and meeting them through public healthcare. (Radical stuff!) Not only is accessible healthcare unequivocally good and likely to raise living standards across the United Mexican States, but programs such as this provide an even higher benefit: they immunize the population against fascist rhetoric.

Greg Grandin, author of The End of the Myth, shares his thoughts on Sheinbaum’s health programs.

House-to-House Health

Claudia Sheinbaum’s House-to-House Health program will work in two phases. The first, which is already underway, is to survey disabled and elderly Mexicans to learn their medical status and needs. As you read this, over twenty thousand Mexican public servants are bringing questionnaires to 13.6 million households. They’ll collect data on medical history, recent doctor visits, medication, disabilities, diet, emotional health, and more. The surveyors will also create a personalized health plan to meet the individual’s unique needs. Informed by this data, the Mexican government will recruit doctors and nurses to provide the necessary treatment. (The recruiting period begins on October 21^st.) The goal is to train 21,500 medical professionals² before the year’s end, which will mark the start of phase two.