40% of Catalans have private medical insurance, double a decade ago, says survey

Just over 4 in 10 Catalans have private medical insurance, roughly double the amount a decade ago, according to a Catalan News analysis of several surveys published by the Catalan government-owned Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) over the past number of years.

In 2011, 20.7% of the population were privately insured, but this figure has skyrocketed to 40.6% in 2021.

The share is even larger in the age group 25 to 49, with almost one in two (47.9%) enrolled in the private health system – it is 39.8% of those between 50 and 64, and roughly a third of the population aged 65 and above (33.3%) and 18 to 24 (32%).

In 2009, the first year CEO asked about the issue, 28% of residents had private medical insurance, a figure that declined as the impact of the financial crisis got deeper in the early 2010s.

After increasing sharply in 2014 to 40%, the figure fell to 32.5% in 2016, when it steadily grew to the current values, the highest since surveys began in 2009.

Impact of financial crisis in public health

In Catalonia, everyone, except for some very specific high-income international residents, has the right to access the public health system, which includes free visits to general practitioners and emergency departments, the vast majority of medical specialties, and other basic services like Covid-19 vaccinations.

Here's a Catalan News explainer on how the Catalan public care system works and how residents caereoll.