Sometimes we tend to believe that the rights we have been gaining as a democratic society are eternal and immovable. A serious mistake, because rights as fundamental in our system as education and public health have not been a priority on the agenda of all governments, as has happened in the stages in which the Popular Party has been at the head of this country. The commitment to consolidate a universal and quality public health system has been one of the hallmarks of socialist governments.
A milestone in this vocation to continue taking steps to guarantee and strengthen the public health system has been the approval by the Council of Ministers presided over by Pedro Sánchez of the Preliminary Draft Law that consolidates the Equity, Universality and Cohesion of the National Health System. A project that is now continuing its processing in Parliament. Through this bill, it will be possible to fulfill our commitments and the program of the Government of progress, thus guaranteeing the equity, cohesion and universality of the National Health System. We gain rights and we manage to return to the citizens what previous governments suppressed. This is a legislative initiative in accordance with the DNA of this Government, measures that improve the lives of people wherever they come from and wherever they live.
We are faced with a regulation that aims to shield public health. With a direct management model in the National Health System, direct management, understood as that which is provided through public administrations (entities that make up the state, regional or local institutional public sector; and through the creation of consortia, 100% of public ownership”.
Through a firm commitment to equity, the Government of Pedro Sánchez has been progressively eliminating the pharmaceutical co-payments imposed by the government of the Popular Party. We have banished co-payments for the most vulnerable groups such as people receiving the Minimum Basic Income, pensioners with lower incomes, minors with recognized disabilities and people with low incomes per dependent child. Some 6 million people have benefited from this elimination of co-payments. This preliminary draft, which has just been approved, also eliminates the orthoprosthetic co-payment for these groups.
The right to health care is extended, charged to public funds, to ascendants reunited by their daughter or son who holds the right to health care in the NHS, provided that there is no third party obliged to pay; And it extends rights to Spanish people of origin and residents abroad during their temporary trips to Spanish territory and their families.
The Preliminary Draft Law also delves into one of the key values in the public health system, such as universality, extending the right to health care to ascendants reunited by their daughter or son who holds the right to health care in the National Health System. In addition to extending rights to Spanish people of origin and residents abroad during their temporary trips to Spanish territory and their families.
In the same way, through this article, homogeneity is guaranteed in the effectiveness of the right to health protection, to health care, to people not registered or authorized as residents in Spain. A System that, in addition, will be guided by the principles and instruments of good governance and consolidates the evaluative culture. With a model that will be more participatory and coordinated, through the Open Health Forum, which will be permanent, incorporating the voice of patients, people with disabilities, professional associations and scientific societies.
We are, therefore, facing a qualitative advance, which will allow us to consolidate the right to universal and quality health care, after the attempts to slim down the public health system of the governments of the Popular Party. A firm step that also commits us to continue betting on providing resources to the National Health System to guarantee the best health care, research and, ultimately, the care of people.
Kilian Sánchez Sanjuán is Secretary of Health of the Executive Committee of PSOE Canarias and director of the Health Area of La Palma.
