Three out of four prefer to enter a public hospital

Almost 75 percent of the population prefers to be admitted to a public hospital11 points more than in 2015 (62.9%), according to the results of the 2025 Health Barometer, prepared by the Ministry of Health and the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), which highlights that this is the health area where the public system has seen the strongest growth in preferences of the population in the last decade.

According to the compilation published this Friday, preference for private income has fallen from 30 percent to the current 23.8 percent in 10 years. The difference between the population that expresses a preference for public healthcare and those who prefer private healthcare has gone from 32.9 percentage points (pp) in 2015 to 50.1pp in 2025, although the maximum gap is observed in 2022 (54.8pp), so there has been a small narrowing in this difference in the last three years.

Nevertheless, The general population continues to maintain a clear preference in 2025 for public centers for the three levels of care analyzed: primary care, hospital care (hospitalization and outpatient consultations) and emergencies. 69% of the people interviewed said that if they had to use Primary Care consultations they would go to a public center compared to 28.9 percent who would go to a private center.

The smallest difference is found in hospital outpatient clinicswhere even a 41.1 percent of people interviewed would go to a private center compared to 56.5 percent who would go to a public one.

While in hospital and emergency care, the preference for public services has grown significantly since 2015, in Primary Care there has been a slight rebound in the private option in the last three years (reaching its historical maximum of 28.9%). The preference for public PA has remained very stable in the last decade, always moving around 68-70%. However, an increase in the private option is observed after the pandemic, going from 23.8% in 2019 (minimum value of the series) to 28.9% in 2025.

The evolution of preference in the case of emergencies follows a pattern similar to that of hospitalization. Public emergencies have gained weight in citizens’ choice, going from 61.9% preference in 2015 to 70.1% in 2025. Although a slight narrowing of the difference between both options is observed in the last year due to a rise in the private option in the last year (from 26.2% to 27.1%).

30% of the population has private insurance

20.4% report having private medical insurance hired individually (by themselves or a family member) and 10.3% hired by your company, In recent years there has been an increase in the population that declares they have private insurance.

Starting in 2018, it is possible to separately analyze the type of contracting of these private insurance; Since then, people who declare that they have insurance taken out by themselves or by a family member has gone from 13.7% to 20.4%while those who have insurance contracted by their company have practically tripled in this same period (from 3.5 to 10.3% respectively).

In most of the Autonomous Communities, public health coverage is between 98% and 100%. with the exception of Melilla (94.8%), which may be affected by the sample size of the survey in the autonomous cities. There is enormous regional variability in the declaration of health insurance contracted individually or by a family member. They stand out for having values ​​above the national average in the Balearic Islands (28%), Catalonia (26.7%) and Madrid (26.6%), although the maximum is in Melilla (37.7%); this figure may be affected by the sample size as we have mentioned previously.

At the opposite extreme is La Rioja (10.9%), the Region of Murcia (12.3%) and Navarra (13%). The greatest differences are observed in the prevalence of health insurance contracted by the employer, highlighting the high coverage in the Basque Country (15.9%) and Madrid (15.1%) and at the opposite extreme Extremadura (3.5%) and Aragon (5.1%).