How Differences in Spain’s Regional Healthcare Resources Impact Healthcare Across the Country

This paper investigates the validity of the Universal healthcare system in Spain by addressing the impact of regional healthcare resources on mortality rates. Regional differences in Spain's healthcare system such as regional public health expenditure ratio and number of hospitals available in a region impact the healthcare quality in that region. The movement of Spanish healthcare system from a centralized system to a decentralized system in early 2000s has raised questions concerning equity amongst Spain's 19 provinces. This research utilized a panel data regression model to explore the effect medical resources have on the mortality rate in Spain from 2004-2019. Our results indicate that there is a negative correlation between regional healthcare resources and regional mortality rate. Lower regional mortality rate was associated with better regional healthcare. From our initial results, we infer that healthcare is not truly universal in Spain and regions with more resources have greater quality healthcare. Policies must be implemented to ensure more equal resource allocation across the country.