Spanish minister questions free health care in search for cuts "I believe we have to have a debate between the central government and the autonomous regions and think about whether in the current situation we have to provide all the health services for free to a gentleman who earns more than €100,000 [£83,000]," he said on Cadena Ser radio. It is a very important debate in which the future of the quality of healthcare in Spain is in play. Spaniards have already endured harsh measures to deal with the country's debt crisis, including increasing the retirement age by two years to 67, freezing civil servant wages, raising income, property and sales taxes and changing employment laws to make jobs less secure. However, the minister's off-the-wall healthcare proposal, which would generate a further squeeze on Spaniards, came as a major banking group warned harsh cuts in cash-strapped countries were dragging down the euro area. The Institute of International Finance (IIF), which represents 450 major finance institutions worldwide, called for more spending by countries like Germany and said the eurozone firewall - designed to stop market contagion - should be expanded as soon as possible. IIF chief Charles Dallara, in a letter to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ahead of their yearly spring meetings this month, said: "The emphasis so far on fiscal austerity, while to a degree necessary for the countries facing market funding difficulties, is excessive when carried out across the board." The tighter spending by eurozone governments "has already contributed to a steep contraction in domestic demand in the euro area," Mr Dallara said.