Spaniards go more and more to the dentist and specialist, but less to the Primary Care doctor, according to the INE

2023-04-24 13:44:10

Spaniards come more and more specialist doctor and dentist, but less to your Primary Care doctor, according to data from the ‘Living Conditions Survey (ECV). Year 2022’ published this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Specifically, 77 percent of Spaniards aged 16 and over visited the family doctor at least once in the 12 months prior to the interview and 55.3 percent made at least one visit to the specialist. For their part, 51.7 percent attended the dentist.

Higher incomes go more to the specialist

The percentages of people who go to the specialist and the dentist are higher than those of the same INE survey in 2017: by 3.8 and 5.3 points, respectively). On the contrary, the percentage of people who visit the Primary Care doctor has fallen 2.7 points.

Regarding sex, the percentage of people who go to the family doctor at least once is higher in women than in men (81.4%, vs. 72.3%). This difference is also seen in visits to the specialist doctor and the dentist.

attending at income levelthe percentages show little difference in visits to the family doctor (74.0 percent in low-income households, compared to 77.3 percent in high-income households).

However, the visits to the specialist or dentist They do show variations. Thus, people with higher income attend more frequently than those with low income: 64.3 percent compared to 45.6 percent in the case of the specialist, and 63.9 percent compared to 37.5 percent in the from the dentist.

Reduce the burden of medical expenses

According to the results of the INE survey, medical care expenses place a heavy burden on the 7 percent of households, up from 7.2 percent in 2017, while drug spending is a heavy burden for 6.9 percent of households, up from 7.8 percent in 2017.

This data has coincided with the progressive elimination of pharmaceutical co-payments that the Government has promoted since 2018, mainly benefiting the most vulnerable households and pensioners with the lowest incomes.

In the same line, the burden of dental care expenses it has decreased 7 points, going from 24 percent of households in 2017 to 17 percent in 2022.

Depending on income level, to 5.9 percent of high-income households they are burdened heavily with health care expenses, compared to 6.9 percent of low-income households.

The same happens with the burden of dental care or medication expenses. The lower income households suffer a greater burden than those with higher incomes: 19 percent vs. 11.1 percent for dental care, and 8.9 percent vs. 4.2 percent for drugs.