Private healthcare already concentrates 9.3% of the Balearic Islands' health budget

PalmaPrivate healthcare now accounts for 9.3% of the Balearic Islands' public health budget, according to an analysis of regional accounts conducted by the Association for the Defense of Public Healthcare of the Balearic Islands (Adspib). This figure places the weight of outsourcing above the 5.2% recorded in the official statistics of the Ministry of Health for contracts in 2024, as the association's calculation incorporates other healthcare assistance items involving external resources. The data is part of the twelfth report on healthcare privatization in the autonomous communities, prepared by the Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Healthcare (FADSP). The study places the Balearic Islands among the territories with the highest healthcare privatization, with 28 points on the index, data similar to that of Catalonia and Madrid.

The report highlights that the Balearic Islands stand out in six of the ten indicators analyzed, in which they are placed above the 75th percentile of all autonomous communities. Among the data that appear there are the 304 euros per inhabitant per year of expenditure on private insurance and the 516.85 euros of direct health expenditure by families. In addition, 35% of hospital beds and 33% of high-tech equipment are in private centers. 2.8% of civil servants assigned to MUFACE choose private insurance.

For Kiko Puigventós, member of the Adspib board and coordinator of the report on privatization in the Balearic Islands, these figures reflect a model that favors the private sector while the public health system continues to suffer difficulties in responding to care needs. "The system is set up so that the private sector makes profits and the public sector weakens," he denounces. According to the data presented by the association, the 2026 budget allocated to healthcare with external means reaches 228.4 million euros. The entity also points out that, between 2010 and 2026, the expenditure allocated to contracts has increased by 165%, while the overall health budget has done so by 46%.

More than 113,000 people are waiting for a consultation or an operation

Adspib links the expansion of private healthcare to difficulties accessing the public system and denounces that referrals to external providers have not solved the problem of waiting lists. According to data managed by the association, more than 113,000 people are waiting for a hospital consultation or a surgical intervention. Specifically, 96,258 people are pending a consultation with a specialist, 9,263 more than in the previous count, while 17,611 are waiting for an operation, 2,258 more. The average waiting time for a surgical intervention has gone from 104 to 113 days, and that for consultations with specialists, from 63 to 67 days.

Delays also affect primary care. According to data provided by the association, 78% of patients wait more than two days to get an in-person appointment and 44% wait more than seven. "When someone arrives and has a seven-day delay to see the doctor, what they do is go to the emergency room to solve the immediate problem and, if it cannot be solved, they go to the private sector," explains Puigventós. The association considers that waiting lists are a structural problem and questions whether the shock plans applied so far have managed to resolve the delays. José Manuel Aranda, coordinator of the national report on healthcare privatization, also warns that difficulties in accessing public assistance may encourage people with more resources to end up resorting to private services. For this reason, he advocates strengthening public services and improving the working conditions of professionals.

Another point that the association questions is the difficulty in knowing in detail the destination of public resources that are diverted to private companies and centers. Adspib asserts that it has requested information regarding contracts, budgets, and justifications for the outsourcing, but that it has not received all the necessary data to analyze them. The entity demands more transparency in IB-Salut's accounts in order to evaluate which services are outsourced, for what reasons, and at what cost. It also questions a model in which, as it denounces, the public health system takes on the most complex processes while private providers can focus on less complex and more profitable services.

For this reason, the association calls for increasing public investment, strengthening its own services, and reversing the outsourcing. It considers that referrals to the private sector cannot replace a policy aimed at improving the care capacity of the public health system. Miguel Reyero, a member of the Adspib board, argues that public healthcare is an essential tool for reducing social inequalities. "We defend public healthcare because, in a world full of differences, it is a tool that distributes equality," he states. Reyero points to privatization policies and patient referrals as two of the main threats to the public system. The association maintains that access to care should not depend on each person's economic capacity and demands that the administrations prioritize the strengthening of public services.

Adspib insists that, beyond isolated mobilizations, it is necessary to address the root causes of the delays, improve the conditions of professionals, and ensure that public resources serve to strengthen the system's care capacity. For the entity, the increase in outsourcing and the difficulties in accessing care make it necessary to review the model and prioritize public healthcare as a guarantee of equity.