2024-02-18 17:26:40
It was on January 29 of this same year when the newly appointed Minister of Health, Mónica García, announced that the Government of Spain will include glasses and contact lenses within Social Security benefits. The objective of this measure is that “people do not have to reach into their pockets when they need a benefit.”
However, regarding the date on which this social measure will be implemented, Pedro Sánchez’s coalition Executive clarifies that it will be carried out “throughout the legislature”, that is, the date is not yet known. exact day on which these subsidies will start. Nor the specific month or year. The truth is that if you look back, this is not a new initiative. Already in the last legislature, with Carolina Darias at the head of this portfolio, it was already proposed to expand the benefits of this system, although in the end the measure did not proliferate.
Likewise, it should be said that in some European countries it has been in force for years. This is the case, for example, of France. Macron promoted the 100% Santé plan, with which you can get free glasses. In addition, the possibility is allowed for those over 16 years of age to renew them for free every two years. Something similar also happens in Germany, whose Government reimburses the cost of glasses for children under 18 years of age and for older people with severe visual impairment.
The Health plan to include glasses and contact lenses in Social Security
From the Ministry of Health explican a Newtral.es that “at the moment there is no elaborate or concrete plan on the table” to implement the objective of introducing visual health into the common portfolio that Mónica García announced. In fact, they emphasize that “García’s statements are nothing more than axes, objectives and plans that she has in her portfolio to work on throughout the legislature.” Each of the announced points would need to be specified.
How many people would it benefit in Spain?
In Spain, seven out of ten citizens (70.6%) use glasses or contact lenses to see well in their daily lives, according to data from the White Paper on Vision 2023. That is, if the calculations are made, this measure would benefit more of 30 million people.
What do opticians think about this measure?
The Official College of Opticians-Optometrists of Andalusia has spoken out against this measure. They argue that its economic impact will be greater than expected and that it will affect the results of these self-employed businesses, as published by the media Autónomos y Emprendedores.
The president of the Official College of Opticians-Optometrists of Andalusia, Blanca Fernández Pino, stated that she had not received any communication from the Government about this new bonus, which “has taken them by surprise”, according to statements to the same medium. Furthermore, she has considered that “it should be regulated by autonomous communities taking into account the budget of each one.”
Precisely in this sense, the president of the Official College of Opticians-Optometrists of Andalusia has also raised her doubts regarding the viability of the proposal, considering it “unrealistic” due to the high cost in public accounts that it would entail to provide for the entire population, taking into account Keep in mind that, in Spain, seven out of ten people need glasses or contact lenses.
The vision of 57% of the population worsened during the pandemic
More than six million people in Spain could need glasses or contact lenses, but their economic situation prevents them from meeting the expense, as highlighted by the Spanish Federation of Optical Sector Associations (FEDAO) and the public utility association Visión y Vida in its ‘White Paper of Vision. Covid-19 special edition’.
According to the White Paper on Vision in Spainduring the Covid-19 pandemic, 57% of citizens have seen how their vision has worsened, how the symptoms of visual problems were a constant in the lives of 44.5% of the population and how our living habits have changed, forcing us to spend more time indoors and forcing our near vision, they urge us to “initiate actions that will help to quickly recover the situation and promote 100 percent good visual health in Spain.”
“There is a great barrier: citizens are not taking care of their visual health preventively. Of the 70% who said they would check themselves after the State of Alarm ended, only 18.2% have done so. Likewise, we have not sought a remedy. to the symptoms of visual problems, which continue to be latent for 42.1% of the population. Furthermore, child vision care continues to be relegated to the background (59.1% of people who have not checked their children will not do it because they have not complained)”, they point out.
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