A charge of one euro per prescription

The Madrid region, which is under the control of the Popular Party, is planning to introduce a one-euro surcharge fee on medical prescriptions. The measure will fundamentally affect pensioners and the chronically ill, and it follows in the wake of a similar decision by Catalonia, a pioneering region in the introduction of this co-payment system, which was once criticized by then-Madrid premier Esperanza Aguirre.

Now her political heir, Ignacio González, not only considers that this is an ideal deterrent and cost-cutting measure, but is also launching it in the region after the administration of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy put an end to completely free prescription drugs for retirees. It makes sense to try to rationalize such an important sector, although you have to be extremely cautious in order to avoid penalizing the weakest elements of society.

The application of this measure is based on calculations that require documentary support. Ignacio González claims that Madrileños have 45 million prescription drugs piled up inside their homes, a figure that he does not justify adequately. He also states that the new measure is not aimed at raising money but at dissuading people from abusing the system and at reducing consumption.

However, the Madrid health commissioner, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, has failed to provide specifics as to the effects of this deterrent. What he does figure is that an additional 83 million euros will be collected each year, although he defends this by saying that the maximum cost for citizens will be six euros a month. Esperanza Aguirre was the spearhead of the Popular Party's most liberal policies. The current measure proves that her successor wants to keep blazing new trails in the same direction.

Together with this co-payment system and even as a return of the wealth tax is being rejected, González is also busy presenting an ambitious plan to privatize management of Madrid's public health sector.

More clout for private hospitals

Six hospitals will be run by private companies on the argument that management will be more efficient than under public administrators. But there is cause for concern. First and foremost, the contractors who build and run health centers are for-profit enterprises. Secondly, they work as an oligopoly; Capio and Ribera Salud, whose main shareholders are construction and insurance companies, are the two largest. Thirdly, the Madrid government was forced in 2010 to increase outlays of public money for the first private hospitals that were built by Aguirre.

The privatization of essential public services in any case requires strict and transparent public oversight that has yet to be established. At the same time, if there is a lack of information and explanations, it could be reasonably concluded that this type of measure shifts the price of the crisis onto the average citizen and even onto the most vulnerable — the sick and the elderly — who are additionally portrayed as being guilty of abusing the system.