More children and young individuals (up to 15 years old) are affected by poverty when accessing healthcare services in Portugal. After three consecutive years of decline, 2022 registered an increase in households with children/young people up to 15 who did not seek health care in the event of an illness. The conclusion is from the "Information Note #6 - Analysis of the health sector: Children's Access to Healthcare", carried out by researchers Carolina Santos and Professor Pedro Pita Barros, holder of the BPI |Fundação ‘la Caixa’ Chair in Health Economics, as part of the Social Equity Initiative, a partnership between the Fundação 'la Caixa', BPI and Nova SBE.
According to the analysis of the data obtained in the 2022 Access Survey, carried out by the Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE), households with and without children/young people up to 15 were compared. The research concluded that the evolution in recent years has been similar in both groups but higher in the children's group. The explanation for this difference lies in the socio-economic characteristics of the households. The purchase of all the medicines needed to treat the episode of illness is a relevant indicator in this analysis.
Although households with children and young people under 15 do not appear to face increased financial barriers to purchasing medicines (compared to those without children/young people), they are significant. For example, in 2022, around 18.37% of respondents from households with children and young people under 15 did not purchase all the medicines needed to treat the episode of illness. The same results are obtained when analyzing additional indicators: requesting the substitution of branded medication for a generic one and not going to an emergency room or consultation due to lack of money.
The Access to Health Care 2022 Report, using data from 2013 to 2022, concludes that the economic conditions of the household determine to a considerable extent the ability to access health care, even in the context of a National Health Service (SNS) that treats everyone equally. The same is true for households with children, i.e., children and young people belonging to households with lower economic conditions face higher financial barriers to access.
The exemption from user charges for children and young people up to 18 in National Healthcare Service units eliminates this financial barrier. However, there are still difficulties with other expenses associated with access to healthcare.
Overall, the results show that the root of the problem of children's access to healthcare lies in child poverty.
Therefore, mitigating barriers to children's (and the general population's) access to healthcare involves fighting poverty. This means that health policies alone cannot achieve the goal of ensuring adequate healthcare for the population. It is necessary to (re)evaluate the implementation of comprehensive social protection policies since these complement health policies, in line with the 'Health in All Policies' principle. In this sense, the National Strategy to Combat Poverty, which incorporates a strategic axis to reduce poverty among children, young people, and their families, is an essential milestone in promoting children's access to health care.