Recouping holiday health costs
The public health service in one of Spain’s leading holiday regions billed some €51 million last year for treatments given mainly to visiting tourists, 16 per cent more than in 2017. David Ing reports
Some 62 per cent of the total was charged to European Union governments under the terms of the EU’s reciprocal health card system, according to figures from the Balearic Islands’ Servei de Salut.
The remainder included receipts charged to third party users, up 12 per cent to €19.3 million, which included bills for people treated under private insurance policies.
With the EU health card reclaims reaching €31.6 million, the highest number of cases seen for treatments was for UK tourists at 16.555, followed by Germans (13,200) and Italians (11,293).
Mallorca, the biggest of the islands, also saw the largest increase in the value of bills reclaimed – up over 16 per cent to nearly €38 million – including €22.2 million under the EU scheme and €15.7 million attributed to third parties.
It is also home to the biggest single hospital involved, Son Espases in the regional capital of Palma, which accounted for 40 per cent of the total, followed by Can Misses on the island of Ibiza and Manacor, which serves one of the main hotel districts on Mallorca.
Charges averaged around €1,360 for patients who were treated in the main hospitals, compared with €130 for those attended to in a primary care health centre.
The authority said the charges on third parties include those for people who are holders of public health cards who are involved in road accidents and taken to clinics, in which case these are passed on to the car insurers.
In an update on the situation of what will happen when the UK finally leaves the EU, the health authority told the British consul to Ibiza in May that it is still planning to apply the same EU card conditions to British tourists for a further 21 months following any form of Brexit.