The Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, denounces that state regulations force families to advance the cost of care to receive benefits, creating a paradox that leaves those who need it most without coverage.
The Government of the Canary Islands has focused on the main obstacle preventing patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) from accessing financial aid: the state requirement to contract care in advance to receive funding. The Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families, Candelaria Delgado, described this on Tuesday as a “real paradox” that leaves many families in an unsustainable situation.
The state regulations under scrutiny by the Canary Islands
During her speech in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Delgado explained that the Autonomous Community has applied the ALS Law and its regulatory development with the utmost urgency. In fact, the Canary Executive has prioritised the files related to this disease, incorporating the new grade III+ into the autonomous system through the Decree-Law 2/2026, and has created a specific hospital circuit to expedite clinical accreditation. However, the problem lies in the state regulations, which require that the family has previously contracted a personal assistant or a home help service for the aid to be effective.
“The autonomous communities were unable to contribute to the law, as the Government published the law in the BOE without consulting them,” the minister recalled, emphasising that Canary Islands had no capacity to influence the design of a procedure that it now considers unjust.
A paradox that leaves families without resources
The minister detailed that the current regulation forces families to advance the cost of highly specialised care to access public funding. “They are required to have financial resources that, in many cases, they lack,” she stated. The financial aid cannot be paid until the service is contracted, which creates an economic barrier that many families cannot overcome.
Moreover, the General State Administration only transfers funding to the autonomous communities when the Individual Care Programme is already effective and the service is contracted. This delays the arrival of resources even in already recognised files, exacerbating the situation for patients and their caregivers.
The commitment of the Canary Islands: agility and defence of patients
Candelaria Delgado insisted that the Canary Islands will continue to support families throughout the process, expediting every administrative procedure and facilitating access to benefits within the current legal framework. “Canary Islands will comply with the law rigorously and swiftly, but will also advocate for the necessary changes before the State so that access to these benefits no longer becomes an additional obstacle for those already facing an extremely tough illness,” she concluded.
The minister argued that it is essential for the State to adapt the regulations so that the aids truly respond to the purpose for which they were conceived: to ensure that no person with ALS is left without the care they need because they cannot afford an unmanageable cost in advance. In the Canary Islands, it is estimated that there are around 150 people diagnosed with ALS, and many of them find themselves trapped in this bureaucratic maze.
Meanwhile, the Canary Government maintains its commitment to continue pressuring the State to remove this obstacle while continuing to apply the law as quickly as possible. Affected families hope that the Canary Islands' demand resonates in Madrid and that the procedure is modified as soon as possible.
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