“It saves me a lot of time and I can go to any specialist outside of my working hours.” This is how Fran, a 33-year-old from Valencia, justifies his decision to take out health insurance. His is not a unique thought since, like him, one in five citizens of the Valencian Community opt for private healthcare.
The delays in the waiting lists of the Valencian Public Health System or the delays in obtaining an appointment at the GP mean that the contracting of health insurance gains momentum every year, a situation that has been taking place consecutively since 2014. In addition, the recruitment of 65,927 insured in 2022 has meant that for the first time the barrier of one million users has been overcome in the Valencian Community.
The largest increase was registered in the province of Valencia, where 32,423 people joined private health services, totaling 590,351 users. It is followed by the province of Alicante, where the figure of 340,540 insured has been reached after the 26,331 registrations of the last year. On the other hand, in the province of Castellon There are already 110,554 people who resort to this type of insurance after the 7,169 new registrations in 2022.
For their part, more than 12 million people have contracted a health policy in Spain, which represents 25.32% of the total population. The Valencian Community It is the fourth region with the highest number of users after Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia. However, the percentage of insured is lower than the state average since it stands at 20.4%. By provinces, Valencia is the one with the highest proportion (22.7%), followed by Castellon (18,98%) y Alicante (17,71%).
Unlimited growth
Private healthcare is experiencing a golden age and its takeoff in the last decade has been considerable. In the last year the percentage of Valencian users reached 22.70% while in 2011 the figure stood at 15.97, which means an increase of 356,908 people in this period. The increase in registrations in 2022 is especially noteworthy, since it has been the second largest increase in the last 12 yearsonly surpassed by 2021 when 74,383 people joined the paid health system.
From the insurer employers, unespaassure that one of the reasons for the success in contracting this type of services is “because they are products that are marketed to very competitive and accessible prices”. However, they also attribute the increase in new registrations to private companies, since “many have incorporated health insurance for their workers as a complementary remuneration concept“, they assure.
Policies to supplement salaries
There are more and more companies that offer their staff this type of service as an extra salary supplement, since this is “one of the most valued benefits among wage earnerss”, they say from unespa. A tool for attracting and retaining talent, but which also Helps reduce absenteeism of their employees since in the private sector a lot of time is saved, which shortens the duration of sick leave. This is because the waits are less and the insured can make an appointment with the specialist directly without having to be referred by the GP.
This payment in kind is not exclusive to private companies since since unespa they assure that this is a plus that central administration workers benefit from. Thus, the personnel of the armed forces, the judiciary or teachers, among others, have a health policy as a complement to their salary.
public health relief
The increase in the number of people who opt for a private modality when going to the doctor implies a relief in the workload of public health. This is expressed by Unespa sources who ensure that, although users can make use of the public system like any other taxpayer, “Those who have taken out insurance go to the private“, they affirm.
In addition, from the employers they highlight that the 12 million people who pay for health insurance and who stop consuming public health services ” contribute to a obvious cost savings for the Administration“.
