It also forms an integral part of the Mexican healthcare system.
The IMSS was founded by Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho on January 19, 1943 to satisfy the legal precepts established in the Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution.
[citation needed] For some time, however, there have been festering signs of trouble in IMSS, such as serious financial problems that came to a head in early November 2010.
The Mexican Social Security law currently in effect, published in the Official Journal of the Federation (21 December 1995), is the legislative domain under which the IMSS carries out its operations.
Currently the law indicates that Social Security has the following purposes: The law contemplates two domains, an "obligatory" one (funded by individual, employer and state contributions), and a "voluntary" one (aimed at workers in household industries and self-employed professionals).