Spain, the European country with the cheapest health insurance

Spain is he european country with the cheaper private health insurance that offers greater coverageaccording to the report Comparative study of health insurance in Spain with surrounding countriespresented within the framework of the Extraordinary Chair of Sustainable and Responsible Health of the Complutense University of Madrid, and which has the support of the Spanish Private Health Alliance (ASPE).

The European comparative study places Spain as the country with more affordable health policieswith premiums between 69 and 198 euros monthlywhich is 79% cheaper than the average policies in some of the European countries.

According to the document, the average monthly premium adjusted to GDP places Spain as the country with the lowest premium, with 116 eurosfollowed by Italy (147), the United Kingdom (172), Portugal (231), Switzerland (253), while no data is available for Sweden.

Furthermore, the text indicates that coverage in Spain includes essential services such as Primary care, hospitalization, surgical interventions, diagnostic tests and advanced treatments.

“We have verified that Spain is positioned as the country that has the most affordable premiums and at the same time with greater coverage. For example, in the United Kingdom the premiums are higher and the level of coverage is lower,” Sonia Juárez, from the Extraordinary Chair of Sustainable and Responsible Health at the Complutense University of Madrid, highlighted during the presentation.

To compare these data, the authors of the study have selected countries with the two largest healthcare models that exist in Europe. On the one hand, the Beveridgewhich is characterized by offering universality, equity and free access to healthcare for all citizens, financed through general taxes. This model is the one that Italy, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Portugal have. On the other hand, there is the model Bismarckwhich is the one that has compulsory social insurance, financed by contributions from workers and employers, as is the case in Switzerland.

26% of Spaniards have private health insurance

Despite this penetration, the authors point out that Spain is, along with the United Kingdom, among the few countries analyzed that They do not offer individual tax incentives for purchasing health insurance. Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland do provide tax deductions or benefits for those who opt for private coverage. In Spain, the only existing incentives are linked to group insurance, they point out.

As for the copaysdespite its proliferation in some policies, the document reflects that most do not usually have relevant co-payments, something that does happen in Portugal and Italy. However, the most restrictive waiting periods do occur in Spain, being in some cases similar to those existing in Portugal and Italy.

Spain has a unique model with mutual insurance companies

The study highlights the singularity of the Spanish model. Private insurance has a largely supplementary role, as in the rest of the model countries Beveridge. However, in Spain it is combined with a complementary and, in some cases, substitutive use, thanks, in this case, to the existence of administrative mutual societies (MUFACE, ISFAS, MUGEJU) that allow officials freely choose between the public or private network with equal benefits. This is a unique model in Europe.

Another differentiating factor is the weight of group insurance: More than half of the policies in Spain are contracted through companies. In countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden or Switzerland, on the contrary, this model has a marginal presence.

“The sustainability of the system is in danger”

Among the conclusions of the study, the experts from the University Chair warn that this low price of the policies can become “a double-edged sword”. Although they consider that it favors access and the extension of private insurance, it could also put the sustainability of the system at risk and compromise the ability of insurers to maintain a balance between accessibility, quality and equity in provision.

In this sense, the president of the ASPECarlos Rus, has warned that these data endanger the current sustainability of the system in Spain: “Our service has to be a system that is sustainable for the futurecannot be permanently competing on price”.

Rus has explained that the main motivation for patients’ choice to have health insurance is accessibilitysomething that is currently being harmed. “I think that in models of this type, where the policy becomes increasingly cheaper and there is competition in price, this accessibility is eliminated,” he said.