Public opinion on the eligibility of health care for migrants and refugees in Slovenia.

Abstract

Worldwide, more than 200 million people have left their home country, and international migration from the Middle East to Europe is increasing. The journey and the poor living conditions cause numerous health problems. Migrants show significant differences in lifestyle, health beliefs and risk factors compared with native populations and this can impact access to health systems and participation in prevention programmes. Our aim was to measure the attitude of survey participants to migrants and to define up to what level migrants are entitled to health care from the viewpoint of Slovenian citizens. This survey was carried out in January 2019 and included 311 respondents. We applied a quantitative, nonexperimental sampling method. We used a structured survey questionnaire based on an overview, a national survey on the experiences of patients in hospitals and user satisfaction with medical services of basic health care at the primary level. A large proportion of the respondents agreed that migrants should receive emergency or full health care provision, that there is no need to limit their health rights and that they do not feel that their own rights are compromised by the rights of migrants. Over 80% agreed with health protection for women and for children. The findings offer a basis for supplementing the existing, or designing a new, model of health care provision for migrants in Slovenia, focusing on the provision of health protection and care as a fundamental human right.