1986 law guarantees access to every resident of Spain, but some 180,000 people fall within the group who would have to pay for treatmentArchive photo - www.20minutos.es
It’s now 25 years since Spain’s public health law came into effect, giving the right of access to the public health system to every resident of Spain.
But 20 minutos reports that the condition for this free access, that the patient must pay into the Social Security system, means that there are more than 180,000 people which the Health Ministry says are currently left out of the public health system.
It includes those who have never worked or the unemployed who no longer receive any state benefits, but have income which is higher than the minimum inter-professional salary of 641 € per month.
Others are people such as lawyers or architects whose professions are not included within those set out in the Social Security regulations for self-employed workers.
Those without any income are guaranteed coverage by the public health system, and Marciano Sánchez, from the FADSP Federation of Associations in Defence of Public Health, has confirmed that those who are left out still have the right to treatment, but will find themselves presented with a bill.
He gives as an example an average of 15 € for an x-ray or 120 € for a CT scan.
20 minutos notes the opinions of some experts that the economic recession could mean that an estimated 300,000 people now fall into this group of the population with no free access to the health system.
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