Salut anticipates that nearly 30% of the budget will go to primary care to "guarantee rapid access"

BarcelonaOn Tuesday, the Catalan Health Minister, Olga Pané, conditioned the healthcare reform on the approval of the 2026 budget, which projects €13,501.8 million for her department. This includes funding to increase, for example, the dispensing of hospital medications that allow for the management of chronic diseases that, a few years ago, were practically a death sentence, such as some types of cancer or cardiovascular diseases. The Catalan government's draft budget, which would increase healthcare spending by 17.6% compared to 2023—the last budget approved under the government of Pere Aragonès—also increases spending on primary care and mental health services, which the minister described as two of her department's priorities.

Hospital care accounts for the bulk of the expenditure at 7.27 billion, plus an additional 442 million for hospital medication to facilitate access to advanced therapies and offer treatment to chronic patients who a few years ago lacked therapeutic alternatives, as well as for minor illnesses. In the case of primary care, the budget allocation increases by 19 percent compared to 2023, approaching 4 billion euros and nearly reaching 30 percent of the consolidated Health budget, as explained by Pané, who added that all of this should allow for "strengthening" primary care and progressing towards "guaranteeing" 48-hour care. The Minister also highlighted that public health has seen the largest proportional increase to date, with 30% more resources, reaching 267.6 million euros. With this allocation, the Government plans to deploy the Public Health Agency and the new Epidemiological Intelligence Network. Focusing on the community model, child and adolescent care, and suicide prevention, mental health would exceed 589 million euros; that is, it would receive 13% more than in 2023. The executive also wants to improve coordination with social services to expedite dependency assessments and A budget of 462 million euros will be allocated to it, 53 million more (+13%). Pané has argued that the proposed budgets are designed to reduce inequalities between regions so that "the chance of surviving a heart attack is the same in the Terres de l'Ebre, in the Pyrenees, or on Barcelona's Diagonal" and so that the current system reaches future generations. The department maintains that, in terms of per capita spending, 1,663.6 euros per inhabitant will be allocated, representing almost 30% of the Generalitat's total budget; if approved, the budget for 2026 would reach 49,162 million euros. Furthermore, the Health budget includes an additional 457 million euros from the Generalitat to cover the salary increase for staff in 2025 and 2026. Thus, the aim is Allocate €1.119 billion to consolidate existing labor agreements and stabilize and expand professional teams, reducing temporary positions from 89,790 to 97,042 permanent positions.

Pané: "One of the best" healthcare systems in the world

One of Salvador Illa's first actions when he assumed the presidency of the Generalitat a year and a half ago was to commission a committee of experts (Cairos) to develop proposals by transform the healthcare system and adapt it to current needs. The goal was to ensure its sustainability, considering that each year there are 100,000 more people requiring care and that the population has changed significantly in recent decades. It is now older, more frail, and suffers from more chronic illnesses than when the first healthcare laws were enacted, which has radically altered the type of care that must be offered in healthcare centers and highlights the need for reform. However, the Catalan government has not yet managed to approve a budget to carry it out.

"Our healthcare system, despite all the shortcomings it still has—waiting lists, the still uneven distribution of professionals across the country, etc.—remains one of the best in the world," the minister stated in a parliamentary committee. Even so, she reiterated that reform is necessary, contingent upon the approval of a budget that, at the moment, only has the support of the Comuns party and, therefore, lacks the necessary backing to pass. With March 20th marked on the calendar as the date that could derail the accounts for 2026, The PSC is working at full speed to try to add ERC's votes to the project.

During the parliamentary groups' turn to speak, David Cid, a deputy from the Comuns party, asserted that these are good budgets—although he admitted they won't bring about a change in the current model—while Juli Fernàndez, a deputy from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), emphasized that, to unblock them, the Spanish government needs to "fulfill its obligations to Catalonia." Conversely, Jordi Fàbrega, a deputy from Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), lamented that these budgets can hardly "address current healthcare challenges," as they are "insufficient to meet the reality" of the country. Finally, Xavier Pellicer, a deputy from the CUP party, believes that this budget maintains a model that incentivizes "more and more Catalans to opt for private healthcare."

The largest doctors' union, Médicos de Catalunya (MC), also believes that the budget "remains mired in self-deception" and that the government is "playing games," because the figure is "more than 3.5 billion euros below the actual annual expenditure." According to their calculations, last year's expenditure exceeded 16.6 billion euros, compared to the 13.5 billion announced now by Pané. However, the organization understands that the scenario of another budget extension is "worse for the country's healthcare needs and for the professionals in the system," and therefore considers a new budget "preferable," even if it is completely insufficient, to maintaining the 2023 budget.