Madrid/València (EFE).- The percentage of the population with private insurance is 19.31 percent in the Valencian Community, an autonomy where the delays for a consultation in Primary Care are 10.03 days on average.
This is revealed in the report “Delays in Primary Care and private insurance”, carried out by the Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Health (FADSP), which indicates that between 2019 and 2022 private insurance has grown 3.07 percent and the average delay in Primary in 3.63 days in the Community.
The Valencian Community is the region with the second longest delay for a consultation in Primary Care after Catalonia, with 11.59 days, and in the case of private insurance it is below the national average, of 20.45 percent.
At the national level, the delays for a consultation in Primary Care, 7.76 days on average, is leading to an increase in the population that subscribes to private insurance and, according to the FADSP), “for each more day of delay, 289,000 people become a private insurance.
At a press conference to present the report, the FADSP spokesman, Marciano Sánchez Bayle, assured that every day of delay represents an increase of 0.618 points in the percentage of people with private insurance, which currently has 20.45%. of the Spanish population.
delay for primary
According to the FADSP, if the average delay were reduced to 48 hours, the percentage of the population with private insurance would drop by 3.56% (1.68 million people).
The percentage of the population that uses private insurance has been growing in recent years, especially since 2019 and among those over 40.
The Community of Madrid leads the percentage of the population with private insurance, 38.11%, followed by Catalonia (32.82%) and the Balearic Islands (30.10%), while the lowest percentage occurs in Navarra, 10, 79%
From 2019 to 2021, the average delay in Primary Care increased 3.21 days, from the 5.24 days increase in the Community of Madrid to 1.64 days in Cantabria.
Those 3.21 days of increase represent 927,690 more insured in the last four years due to the lack of accessibility in Primary Care. This drift could not be verified in the case of consultations with specialists, according to Sánchez Bayle.
On average, the delay in Spain for a Primary Care consultation is 7.76 days, which ranges from 11.59 days in Catalonia to 5.34 in the Basque Country, in the best position.
private insurance
At a press conference, Sánchez Bayle specified that the FADSP has nothing against private insurance, but regretted that they are used due to lack of time and quality in public health care.
It has also denounced that this insurance is subsidized with public funds in the case of insurance contracted by companies and civil servants’ mutuals.
From the FADSP an appeal has been made to the parties so that the reduction of delays in Primary Care is a “fundamental objective for the political options that are presented to the elections on July 23”.
The following table shows, by autonomous community, the percentage of the population with private insurance and the delay, in days, to access a Primary Care consultation.
It also contemplates the percentage increase in private health insurance and in the days of delay for an appointment with the family doctor, between the years 2019 and 2022.
