MADRID (AP) — Spain should consider making richer people pay for their universal health coverage, the country's economy minister said Monday in another reflection of a government scraping and clawing for new sources of revenue.

The ruling party quickly disavowed him, saying the official was only expressing a personal opinion.

The center-right government is desperate for ways to save money or increase revenue as it struggles to achieve deficit-reduction goals. International investors are showing wariness of its ability to do so, shying from buying Spanish debt and pushing up Spain's borrowing costs perilously. This is heightening fears that with sick public finances and other woes like banks overexposed to real estate, Spain could be the next candidate for a bailout, after Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

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