ONE in every six Balearic health card holders is a foreigner, reported the regional government yesterday.
Published research shows that 17.14 percent of the Islands' Ib-Salut cards are held by people from overseas meaning that 176'021 non-Spanish nationals are entitled to government-funded medical care from general practitioners and hospitals.
According to the report released by Ib-Salut, for the fourth year running, there were more than a million national health cards held by members of the public in the Balearic Islands as at the end of July this year - this year specifically, there are 1'026'853 registered users.
Majorca lays claim to 810'121 of them, Minorca to 86'667, and Ibiza and Formentera to 130'065. In 2008, there were two purges of the national health card holder system in the Balearics.