Abstract
AbstractThis article investigates to what extent austerity-oriented measures introduced in the Portuguese health sector during the recent economic crisis were associated with changes in the public opinion on healthcare. We conducted multivariate regression analyses of cross-sectional, biannual data from the European Social Survey (2002–2015) for 13,271 individuals living in private households in Portugal. In line with our expectations, healthcare evaluations of the general population improved until 2010 but declined with the implementation of comprehensive austerity measures introduced under the Memorandum of Understanding after 2011. Healthcare evaluations of vulnerable social groups – older and retired individuals, individuals with poor health, low income and education – declined particularly strongly. In addition, differences in healthcare evaluations between more and less vulnerable social groups were more pronounced after 2011. Interestingly, healthcare evaluations of the general population and of some of the most vulnerable groups ‘recovered’ in 2015, when most of the Memorandum measures were implemented. Our findings contribute to the literature on the effects of austerity measures on welfare attitudes and stress the need to analyse the differential impact of crisis-induced welfare state reforms across social groups.
Highlights
Welfare states face increasing pressure to reform in the context of population ageing and new social risks
We investigate whether Portuguese public opinion on healthcare has been responsive to these austerity measures and whether opinions differ across social groups
With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the implementation of certain key austerity measures, evaluations dropped to a mean of . (SD = . ) in /
Summary
Welfare states face increasing pressure to reform in the context of population ageing and new social risks. The recent economic crisis intensified these pressures, especially for those European governments faced with rising unemployment and growing public debt. Policy-makers embraced comprehensive reforms marked by external conditionality and austerity aimed at reducing public sector expenditures, including those dedicated to the welfare sector. This article aims to fill this gap It analyses the effects of healthcare reforms in the context of the recent economic crisis and subsequent austerity, on the public’s evaluation of the Portuguese healthcare system. The government introduced a set of austerity measures but, as these failed to stop the crisis, in , it signed a bailout agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the ‘Troika’ – the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund.
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