Yago Gómez, the director of budgets for the IB-Salut health service in the Balearics, says that billing for tourists in 2024 was the highest ever. Given that there were more tourists than ever in 2024, this doesn't come as any great surprise.
The health service attended to almost 100,000 tourists in 2024 - 98,883 was the precise figure. The total billing was 43.5 million euros, 39.7 million of which was in respect of tourists with a European Health Insurance Card; 30.7 million of this applied to Mallorca.
Payment for this is through the so-called healthcare cohesion funds. It is collected from administrations in the various countries and doesn't directly go to regional health services such as IB-Salut. The payments are to the national health ministry, which then forwards amounts to the regions.
As Gómez notes, the bills aren't settled in the same calendar years; settlement is made over subsequent years.
The UK has a compensation system with Spain with the UK-issued European or Global Health Insurance Cards. This doesn't apply to all non-EU travellers. Non-card payments in 2024 amounted to 3.8 million euros.