[Approximation to the budgetary cost of universalizing oral health in Spain].

OBJECTIVE: To make an approximation to an estimate of the impact that an increase in the portfolio of oral health benefits would have on public health spending, which would at least cover most of the therapeutic treatments that households currently pay for privately. METHOD: This estimate is based on the level of expenditure on dental services of the Health Accounts System for the year 2020. The data of increased demand is extracted from a RAND's study on universalization of services. Then we carry out various linear projections of increased spending by introducing several linear co-payment assumptions to explore the impact of different mixed financing mechanisms. RESULTS: The increase in the demand for treatment would be 47.54% with respect to the current level of spending and that, under the starting assumptions, the increase in public spending would reach some 5345 million euros. Various co-pay scenarios could reduce budget impact. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the improvement in the oral health of the Spanish population, there are still problems derived from the existence of a socioeconomic gradient that promotes the concentration of the presence and prevalence of diseases in the lowest socioeconomic levels. Extending the services of the oral-dental portfolio to attend to the entire population would increase public health spending by 0.48 points over GDP and, even so, Spanish public health spending would continue to be below the EU-27 average.