A study carried out at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) that evaluates the number of those affected by dependency and the costs associated with it in Spain, estimates that there are more than 900,000 people with a right to public benefits and that official numbers come up short in relation to initial forecasts.
For a dependent person to receive public aid, he or she must score at least 25 points on an evaluation scale (scales which measure the intensity of a situation) carried out by the corresponding official entities On average, only 22% of persons with disabilities are dependents with the right to benefits. Taking this into account and using data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Statistics Institute - INE), estimates from this new study indicate that in 2010 the number of dependent persons entitled to benefits will be above 900,000, with approximately two-thirds being women. This research study, published in the journal Estudios de Economía, has been jointly carried out by Irene Albarrán and Pablo Alonso, of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Universidad de Alcalá, respectively.
The researchers made an estimation of the direct cost of care for these persons, not including the funds that would have to be invested in infrastructures. For 2010 those costs would be approximately between 12,500 million and 15,000 million Euros. "For 2015, when the Autonomía y Atención a la Dependencia) (Autonomy and Attention for Dependant Persons) (SAAD) should be fully functioning in Spain, our estimate would range between 17,000 million and 20,000 million Euros, an amount much higher than the 4,226 million that the Public Authorities plan to provide", the UC3M Statistics Department Professor, Irene Albarrán, pointed out. In a nutshell, there would be a lag of a least 12,000 million Euros, in the best case scenario. "The Law of Dependency has not exactly followed what was set out in the White Paper of Dependency or in other previous studies which served as a reference point, which have led the estimates regarding the number of those affected, and the cost for services for them, to come up short", the expert explained.
Economic impact