Bill to strengthen public healthcare and expand universal access

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would require that public health centers and services be managed directly, meaning with one hundred percent public ownership. Private management would only be allowed exceptionally, with a justified and motivated decision, and never as a replacement for public management.
2. It would restore the common portfolio of SNS services as a single portfolio, merging the three categories created in 2012. It would prevent new healthcare copayments, keeping user contributions only for pharmaceutical, orthopedic products and accessory services.
3. It would extend the right to public healthcare to new groups: Spanish citizens living abroad during temporary visits to Spain and their accompanying family members, reunited dependent ascendants, applicants for international protection, people under temporary protection, and victims of human trafficking or sexual exploitation.
4. Government rules would have to include a health impact assessment in their regulatory analysis reports, to evaluate how rules on housing, education, environment, transport and other areas affect health.
5. It would strengthen the participation of patients, professionals and citizens in the SNS through the Open Health Forum, which would become a permanent advisory and proposal-making body.
6. It would set the conditions for accessing and processing health data for health policy planning, healthcare, public health surveillance and research, with data protection safeguards and recorded access for audits.
7. It would authorize the creation of the consortium of the Spanish Network of Health Technology Assessment Agencies (RedETS), with its own legal personality, to strengthen the assessment of health technologies and services.
8. It would repeal the 1997 law that allowed private management formulas in the SNS, and the law would enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official State Gazette.

Who it affects

• People with insufficient resources or in an irregular administrative situation: They would be guaranteed access to public healthcare under the same conditions as those holding the right.
• Spanish citizens living abroad and their families: They would have the right to public healthcare during temporary stays in Spain.
• Patients and the general public: They could take part in SNS advisory bodies, and new healthcare copayments would be prevented.
• Health professionals and researchers: They would have clear rules for accessing health data for management, surveillance and research purposes.
• Public health administrations: They would have to manage centers and services directly, with private management limited to exceptional cases.

Words worth knowing

Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS)

Spain's national health system, made up of the health services of the central government and the autonomous communities.

Cartera común de servicios

The list of health services (appointments, medicines, rehabilitation, etc.) covered by the public system for the whole population.

Copago

The share of the cost of a medicine or service paid by the user, with the rest covered by the public system.

Consejo Interterritorial del SNS

The body where the central government and the autonomous communities jointly agree on health matters.

Concierto sanitario

An agreement under which a private center provides public health services, usually in exchange for payment.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries