An additional 1.5 million Spaniards have switched to private healthcare since the Covid-19 pandemic

Noelia went to a private dermatology clinic in Madrid for a check-up. Through Spain’s public health system, she would have waited an average of 70 days to get the same appointment.

“In the public health system, it’s true that the wait times to get an appointment are much longer, and when it comes to a health issue, you can’t wait or put off an appointment with the doctor,” says Noelia.

She is one of the 12 million people who already have private health insurance in Spain. Since the start of the pandemic, one and a half million more Spaniards have moved to the private sector.

Jesús Fernández Lobo, the CEO of Dermatoclinic, says the public system is struggling to keep up with demand.

“The public health system is under unbearable pressure and the private health system has had to take on a burden of patients that cannot be treated in the public health system,” he explains.

Three years later, the health system is still trying to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 700,000 people are still waiting for surgery and wait an average of 113 days for surgery.

The delay for a consultation in private centers was on average less than two weeks. But the deterioration of the public health system has also led to longer waiting times in some specialized and private health centers.

Spaniards spent a record amount on health insurance last year – an increase of 7 percent to a total of €10.5 billion.

“We should not be afraid of the private health sector growing, what we should be concerned about is that people do not want to go to the public sector,” said Dr. Juan Abarca, president of IDIS (Institute for Health Development and Integration) .

Abarca continues: “We in the private health sector are also interested in making sure the public health sector works as best it can because the model we have is not designed to make private health care an alternative, but rather a complement on the public health system.”

It is a sentiment shared by almost all Spaniards: to save a model of care that remains a fundamental pillar of the welfare state.