Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in Portugal

Overview

This review is part of a series of country-based studies generating new evidence on affordable access to health care (‎financial protection)‎ in health systems in Europe. Financial protection is central to universal health coverage and a core dimension of health system performance. Catastrophic health spending is higher in Portugal than in many European Union countries but has decreased in recent years. It is heavily concentrated in the poorest consumption quintile and mainly driven by outpatient medicines, especially in households with low incomes. Although entitlement to publicly financed health care is based on residence and the benefits package is relatively comprehensive, gaps in coverage persist. Coverage of medical products is limited and access to publicly financed dental care is restricted due to the lack of sufficient public facilities; waiting times are an issue for primary care visits, outpatient specialist visits and elective surgery; there are heavy percentage co-payments for medical products and outpatient prescribed medicines; existing exemptions from co-payments are not enough to protect people with low incomes and are not applied automatically; and there is no cap on co-payments.