We debunk a lie from Vox: no one is left without a medical appointment because of migrants.

Palm"7,300 immigrants arrived by boat in 2025, and the impact of this is that, in healthcare alone, 300 patients from Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera, and Ibiza are left without care every day because doctors refuse to treat these people who contribute nothing to the healthcare system." The Vox spokesperson in the Balearic Parliament, Manuela Cañadas, made these statements on January 29th. The issue here is that the far-right representative lied, because no one is left without care by the Balearic healthcare system: not residents, not tourists, not migrants. In this report, we debunk one of Vox's lies, although the party uses many others.

Where do the far-right get the main figure for their argument, that Primary Care is failing to treat 300 Balearic Islanders every day? Vox demanded from the Ministry of Health the figures for undocumented immigrants who had received care through the public health system. According to official data, 194,608 consultations were carried out between January 1, 2024, and September 20, 2025. From there, Vox divides to obtain 9,730 consultations for undocumented immigrants per month, or 308.92 per day – ARA Baleares has had access to these calculations. Vox deduces from this figure that there is some kind of numerus clausus in the healthcare system, but this is not the case. It is a zero-sum fallacy: it assumes that the system has a fixed capacity and that if some are admitted, others are excluded. However, the healthcare system does not have a fixed number of appointments, but rather adapts healthcare resources to demand, as happens with the arrival of millions of tourists in the summer.

The Balearic Islands Health Service (ARA Baleares) contacted the Primary Care management, and the response from this body is very clear: "Patients who have not resolved their immigration status do not take appointments away from other patients." Furthermore, the management reiterates that "everyone has the right to public healthcare in Spain, regardless of their immigration status, so any citizen can go to a health center to receive medical attention"—Royal Decree-Law 7/2018 establishes universal access to the healthcare system. In addition, Primary Care clarifies that people with irregular immigration status in the Balearic Islands do not use the public healthcare system through the appointment system.

Yes, they do contribute

It is also not true that undocumented immigrants "contribute nothing to the healthcare system." Taxes, including VAT, are used to fund healthcare spending. Therefore, anyone who buys a product contributes to the system. "More than 95% of public healthcare is financed by taxes, and migrants buy things, pay VAT, and contribute to the upkeep of public healthcare," emphasizes former Health Minister Patricia Gómez (PSIB). Gómez also points out that young, healthy people typically arrive in the Balearic Islands, at an age where they can build a life and work.

The former councilor calls the far-right's inference that migrants are depriving residents of medical care "absurd" and emphasizes that the islands' economic growth is accompanied by increased tax revenue. "In this community, the economy is doing well, and public healthcare can afford to grow at a faster pace than the government's," she adds. And the issue of public health cannot be ignored: "A healthy population is in our best interest," Gómez asserts, expressing concern that pressure from the far right could influence the government. "When we took office in 2015, we discovered that the previous PP administration had revoked 26,000 health cards [from immigrants]," the former councilor explains, referring to José Ramón Bauzá's term. "It's a matter of human rights, social justice, and the right to health," she concludes.

For his part, the president of the Balearic Islands Medical Association, Carles Recasens, appeals to responsibility. "If confrontation and disrespect are practiced, the public may normalize it, and that's the worst thing that can happen," he says. "Every citizen should have the best possible health, regardless of where they're from, what they say, or what they believe. We all benefit," he continues. "As an institution, we have urged political leaders on several occasions to be knowledgeable, prudent, and consistent with their responsibility, not only to their voters but to the entire population," he says.

Recasens also clarifies the issue: "Here, nobody is stealing from anyone." The president emphasizes that the healthcare system is "universal, free, accessible, local, and designed to provide people with prompt care."

What the president of the College of Physicians does demand is that the healthcare system be prepared to handle both the increase and the aging of the Balearic population. "The population of the past is not the same as the current one: it grows and changes. We have to consider what system, resources, and facilities are necessary. That is the task that the Ministry of Health must carry out and is carrying out," he explains, and reiterates the recurring theme of this report: "There is no competition here [between patients]." "Some don't take resources away from others; rather, the universal public system has the duty to respond to everyone," he asserts, and reminds us that this is one of the pillars of the doctors' code of ethics. It's about attending to those who need it.