Good for Health, Good for Business
By Jessica Chao, Ph.D.
April 2023
In recent years, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have made progress toward universal healthcare coverage, with 76–77 percent of the population now having essential coverage. Improvements were made in service coverage by expanding access to primary healthcare systems and non-communicable disease coverage, as well as providing community outreach through an increase in skilled healthcare workers. New pharmaceutical support programs offer treatment for chronic conditions at no cost, while expensive drugs and cancer treatments were partially guaranteed.
Welbe is a startup that manages the wellbeing of a diverse workplace with a single membership.
Despite increased access, Latin American households pay one-third of their healthcare costs out-of-pocket. Unfortunately, these countries still lack effective financial protection mechanisms, as the average public health expenditure in Latin America is still limited compared to other countries, and individuals must often rely on private healthcare services, which can be costly. In Mexico, out-of-pocket costs make up about 40 percent of total health expenditures. What’s needed are startups that can improve healthcare quality, while keeping out-of-pocket costs to a minimum.
The company launched in Mexico in 2021 to help employers fulfill labor requirements, but quickly realized it can provide services beyond what traditional occupational health can offer.
Welbe is a startup that manages the wellbeing of a diverse workplace with a single membership. The company launched in Mexico in 2021 to help employers fulfill labor requirements mandating a certain number of doctors based on the size of the workforce. But Welbe quickly realized it can provide services beyond what traditional occupational health can offer.
Welbe now has more than 250,000 users on its platform, and offers not just access to doctors for annual exams, but also employer-supplemented comprehensive primary care and ancillary services, such as pharmacy and laboratory testing, that are much more competitive and higher-quality than that offered by Mexico’s traditional public healthcare system. Because of this, companies that work with Welbe have seen a sizable reduction in workforce turnover.
CEO Eduardo Medeiros and CTO Marcus Paiva have created a modular healthcare coordination platform that allows a diverse mix of employers, providers and patients to access its services. SLVC is extremely excited about the future of Welbe, because it is bringing quality primary care services to employees and families who would otherwise have to miss workdays to search for the right doctors at the right price.
