Objective. To estimate the effective coverage (EC) of treatment of hypertension (HT) in Mexican adults in 2012 and compared with those reported in 2006. Materials and methods. The National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012 was analyzed. The EC has three dimensions: health need as prevalence of HT, utilization of health services when the need is real and quality as recovering health after the treatment. The EC of treatment of HT was estimated using instrumental variables. Results. In 2012, the EC national of treatment of HT was 28.3% (95%CI 26.5-30.1), ranging from Michoacan with 19.3% (15.3-23.4) to State of Mexico with 39.7% in (25.3- 54.0). From 2006 to 2012 the national EC increased 22.5%. Conclusion. The EC treatment of hypertension is low and heterogeneous. The use of synthetic indicators should be a daily exercise of measurement, because report summarizes the performance of state health systems.