Is it possible for the public health care model and private health care to coexist? And if so, how should it be done? This was the topic of the latest Quiral Opinion discussion, a meeting organized by the Fundació Vila Casas to debate the social and health care news that most interests the Catalan press. On this occasion, Dr. Catalina Cabrer, director of Barnaclínic was a co-star of the debate on public and private health care and defended collaboration between the two systems, and said that “proposing a model of coexistence means potentiating efficacy, efficiency, equality, sustainability and, above all, quality of health care services”.
The representative of Hospital Clínic shared the table with the managing director of Grup Mútua de Terrassa, Esteve Picola. Among the audience were three journalists specializing in the health care sector (Milagros Pérez Oliva, ombudswoman for El País; Angels Gallardo of El Periódico; and Carmen Fernández of Diario Médico), and medical professionals from different institutions, including Dr. Miquel Vilardell, head of the internal medicine department of Hospital Vall d’Hebron; Marc Soler of the College of Physicians of Barcelona; Jacint Corbella, chairman of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia; and Mateu Huguet, director of the Institute for Health Care Studies. Also taking part in the debate was Dr. Raimon Belenes, CEO of Hospital Clínic. You can find the conclusions and opinions of the participants in the discussion.