Spanish health care


More information here on the Spanish health care system so you can be fully aware of your situation with regard to health issues should you be moving to Spain or already living here in Spain. As with the UK, Spain has a national, or public health system and this will give free or at low cost health care for those that are contributing to the Spanish social security system. People that are paying into the social security system will also have their dependants covered for health care.The system also caters to the needs of pensioners and includes those from other European countries. If you are not paying into the social security system and you are not a pensioner then you will need to use the private care system. From personal experience we have found this to be first rate. You choose who you want to see and make the appointment, rarely do you need to be referred by a GP. We have found that xrays, blood tests are all done there and then and your results are usually back on the same day. It is quite extraordinary. There are several companies that cater for the private health care option. I use Sanitas, owned by Bupa. Roughly, for our family of five, it costs around £2500 per annum. We have had an operation covered from this, physio, blood tests, emergency appoinments in the middle of the night so I do feel that we have had our moneys worth. I haven’t heard bad reports either about the state/public system other than there can be long queues at time. There are also many English speaking medics in the more touristy areas.
If you are thinking of buying here in Spain then do consider where the nearest hospital is, what are the health care facilities like? I have seen too many elderly people follow their dream to relocate to Spain and as prices are cheaper inland this is where they looked to buy. The fact that there was no hospital for miles and miles didn’t deter them. If they did need emergency treatment this would have been a big problem. Another is that for rehabillitaion or convalescence Spain does lag behind in encorporating this into their heath care system. They deem that relatives will do this type of care and as a result there are few public hospices, nursing homes and retirement homes.