Are you looking for orientation on whether or not to get private health insurance in Spain, but can’t find trusty info anywhere? here’s our experience.

As many of you already know, i was born in Costa Rica but have been living in Spain for 2 years. The day my husband and I decided to get married and leave to a new continent, we knew there was an endless amount of details we would now have to start planning, and that included healthcare insurance.

The first few months we were a bit overwhelmed with all the marriage paper works, the new lifestyle we had, and moving into our new home, so we were pretty much depending on Spain’s “Seguridad Social” (public health). We figured out it works pretty well and even though luckily, there was never a need to use it urgently, it’s good to know how it works in case you still haven’t found a proper private insurance and are living in Spain as well.

How does Public Healthcare work?

Basically Seguridad Social in Spain is used by more than 95% of the Spanish people. You can imagine it works pretty efficiently, and if you’re an expat in Spain, according to expatica.com you are legally entitled to receive it’s services for free, as long as you are:

• resident in Spain and work in employment or self-employment and pay social security contributions,
• resident in Spain and receiving certain state benefits,
• resident in Spain and recently divorced or separated from a partner registered with social security,
• a child resident in Spain,
• a pregnant woman who is resident in Spain,
• under 26 and studying in Spain,
• a state pensioner
• staying temporarily in Spain and have an EHIC card.

This public healthcare is organized in small clinics that are spread out across Barcelona and respond to a bigger hospital in the area. Depending on where you live, you are assigned to the closest one. When I first went to ask how it worked, they explained that I was entitled to a “Sanidad card”, and in order to get it,  they asked for several papers:

– my marriage certificate

– the “empadronamiento” document (which basically states where you live, and you can ask for it through an appointment at the police station, more info on that here)

– my NIE

– my husbands DNI (this is because he’s the Spanish in our family and i’m not from here)

They added me to the system, gave me a temporary card and (like two months later) received the permanent public healthcare ID by mail (called CATsalut because we are in Catalunya). Event though there was a long line in order to the speak to the receptionist (I’m guessing it’s probably always pretty full because it’s public), the service was pretty good and they explained the procedure to make appointments.

Before this day, I had read online that they wouldn’t give out any specialty doctor appointments before you were checked by a general doctor, however, when I asked if I could make an appointment with an ophthalmologist, they programmed it right away. It all worked pretty well until they explained that the next appointment available was 1 month away, and a couple of weeks later, when I noticed I wasn’t going to be in town that week, I called to reschedule and they set it up for 2 months later.

If you’re not in a hurry, this could be a great service however, if you need to get checked out soon, private healthcare is a much better choice. In case of emergencies, however, you must go to the bigger hospital in the area (instead of the clinic) and even though I’ve had no experience with this, I’ve heard great things about the professionals, speed, and service in these public hospitals.

And what’s up with private health insurance?

In our case, after the moving craziness, even though we saw how public healthcare worked well, my husband and I decided it was a better idea to get private healthcare just to be safe. We want to someday become parents and most insurances place time limits (called “tiempo de carencia” here in Spain) where you need to have the service hired before getting pregnant, so choosing one sooner, rather than later, was a good option for us.

Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the subject so I spent a whole afternoon on the phone speaking with several insurance companies and got quite a lot of info. If you’re interested in learning the differences, and why I chose mine, this might help you a bit 🙂

What are the options?

Spain has quite a lot of insurance companies, some of the most recognized ones being Sanitas, Adeslas, Asisa, GSK, and a few others. After several calls, I found that the best option was calling a company that manages them all (I used acierto.com) and depending on your situation, they can recommend the most appropriate option for you.

Each of these insurances have several options; either a low co pay, medium co pay, high co pay or without co pay. The option that has no co pay means that whenever you use it, the insurance will pay 100% and you won’t have to pay anything. The rest of the options depend on the percentage they will cover or not. Of course, the one that covers everything is a bit more expensive but in my opinion, worth it because it’s easier to use and you don’t have to deal with the paperwork every time you go to the doctor. To give you an idea of the pricing, the high co pay ones, that require you to pay a higher amount every time you use the doctor, is the cheapest and is around 30 euros a month. The ones without co pay, that will cover the full cost are around 50 euros a month.

Since i’m 23, I was luckily in the range of “no danger” for the insurance, as the agent explained, and this means I applied for a discounted price. She told me that if I wanted to be a mom in the next few years, the best option was either Asisa or Adeslas, since they have the best maternity packs. I told her that I was looking for the no co pay ones, meaning that when I went to the doctor, I wouldn’t have to pay anything, so the price was around 45 euros a month. Also, since I was looking for an insurance that covered everything, and that had a good amount of specialty doctors in Barcelona, this was the best option but I recommend that whenever you speak to the agent, you give them your background and interested specialty areas so that they can recommend the company that fits your needs the best.

So after choosing the company, what’s next?

After talking with my husband (and reading a bit of reviews online) I called back and we started the process:

1. She had to read a legal paper through the recorded call

2. She gave me a medical questionnaire to fill out

3. I had to give her our bank information

After this, one day later, I received a text message that I was approved by the company (depends on the answers of your health questionnaire).

4. I got to download and register through the app.

5. About a week later, I received by mail the insurance card and had to email back to them a form with my signature. This is the contract and after this, you are ready to go!

One day later, I was at my first doctors appointment (no waiting lines!) and it went as smooth as I was hoping for!

PS. If you are in Barcelona, and ended up choosing Asisa (every insurance covers different hospitals and doctors), I was recommended by tons of people Hospital Quiron and Teknon (the one in the picture). They are not only one of the best in Barcelona but in Spain as well, so that tip could probably work for you as well 🙂

Hope all the info helped in your process to choosing your own insurance as well! xox.