The Valencian government reopens a front with the central government to claim from the State the health debt for the care provided to Spanish citizens from other autonomous communities and other countries. A pending money that the Generalitat Valenciana dates back to 2012, that is, a good part corresponds to Mariano Rajoy’s time in the central government, which lasted until 2018.
A claim that arrives just before closing the preliminary draft of regional budgetswhere everything indicates that once again this item which does not materialize in practice will again be included in the expected income for next year.
The plenary session of the Consell held today authorized the Ministry of Health to request from the Spanish Government the 1,022.9 million euros due due to lack of compensation from the Care Guarantee Fund and the Health Cohesion Fundthe remuneration mechanisms for health care provided in the Valencian Community to patients from other Autonomies and to foreigners.
According to the Minister of Finance and spokesperson, Ruth Merino, the State Executive must, through the Assistance Guarantee Fund (Foga) €23.1 million for primary care assistance to visitors from other communities between July 2012 and December 2013. Furthermore, it quantifies in Additional 798.9 million euros for assistance to displaced people in specialized care between July 2012 and until now.
According to ‘s accounts, the central government also has payment pending, through the Health cohesion fund, of more than 99.6 million euros for regulations for the years between 2013 and 2023; as well as others 101.3 million euros for the settlement of invoicing generated in the Valencian Health Service for health care provided to foreigners. Health expenditure represents the largest volume of the Autonomous Administration, with unstoppable growth which, year after year, exceeds what was budgeted.
The Consell thus claims the funds lost due to the ineffectiveness of the implementation of the Assistance Guarantee Fund as provided for in Royal Decree-Law 16/2012 of April 20. A system that should have been put in place to provide financial compensation for health care to people displaced between autonomous communities, but according to the Generalitat, this mechanism has had a very limited scope and generates “significant economic damage”.
More than 199,000 visits per year
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 199,000 specialized care services provided annually to people displaced from other autonomous communities are being identified and registered individually, representing an expenditure of 77.6 million euros per year who has not been paid.
According to the Generalitat, since the entry into force of Law 17/2012 of December 27 on General State Budgets, the Health Cohesion Fund has acquired an extra-budgetary character, so that the autonomous communities which, like the Valencian Community, present positive results the balances of the joint liquidation of the Aid Guarantee Fund and the Health Cohesion Fund must be compensated by the Ministry of Finance.
Added to this is the tourist effect. Healthcare provided to foreign citizens holding a European Health Card or coming from countries with a reciprocity healthcare agreement is also billable, but according to the Consell, the methodology for calculating the settlement of this billing used by the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) and the Ministry of Health “does not respect the collection rights legitimately acquired by the communities” and “generates significant losses for tourist autonomy such as the Comunitat, with negative effects perverse and unjust enrichment of some at the expense of others.
