This paper offers a comprehensive picture of the performance of the Mexican health system during the period 2000-2018. Using high-quality and periodical data from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, The World Bank, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and Mexico’s National Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, we assess the evolution of seven types of indicators (health expenditure, health resources, health services, quality of care, health care coverage, health conditions, and financial protection) over a period of eighteen years during three political administrations. The reform implemented in Mexico in the period 2004-2018―which includes the creation of Seguro Popular―and other initiatives helped improve the financial protection levels of the Mexican population, expressed in the declining prevalence of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures, and various health conditions (consumption of tobacco in adults and under-five, maternal, cervical cancer, and HIV/AIDS mortality). We conclude that policies intended to move toward universal health coverage should count on strong financial mechanisms to guarantee the consistent expansion of health care coverage and the sustainability of reform efforts. However, the mobilization of additional resources for health and the expansion of health care coverage does not guarantee by themselves major improvements in health conditions. Interventions to deal with specific health needs are also needed.