Which Conditions Should My Medical Insurance Contract Meet In Order To Get Residency Spain

Bear in mind that many application rejections do happen because the health insurance was not appropriate.

So, what should you take into consideration when choosing one?

The first thing to consider is that your health insurance must be private and can be equated to the offerings of the Spanish public healthcare system. You can find those here.

Then, of course, if you already benefit from public healthcare in Spain, theres no need to contract a private insurance for your immigration procedure.

Nevertheless, in case you actually need one, you will find different options.

Many companies and many offerings. But not all of them will be valid to match the features of the public one.

Tourist or travel insurances wont work for your residency application.

Which are, then, the basic features the immigration office will require?

Lack of copayments

This basically means that you dont have to pay every time you go to the doctor or hospital. Your health insurance must cover all those types of visits, no matter their nature.

No vesting periods

Meaning that it cant have any period in which it lacks any of its features.

It must be complete

You need a complete package, covering hospitalizations or any kind of medical transportation.

With maximum coverage

It must be valid throughout the whole Spanish territory, covering any type of disease or illness.

Valid during your whole stay in the country

Health Insurance For Non

As a non-EU citizen moving to Spain for the first time, it is a requirement to get travel insurance to enter the Schengen area.

As an expat working and contributing to social security in Spain, you will get access to free doctor appointments and subsidised prescriptions by presenting your Tarjeta Sanitaria Individual or TSI- your Spanish Health Card. Your legal spouse and children under the age of 15 will be entitled to healthcare as well.

The only exception is for pregnant residents in Spain who will get access to healthcare regardless of their insurance status.

If you are a non-EU student, you will need to arrange for international health insurance prior to your arrival in Spain.

Expat Health Insurance In Spain

If you are planning to move to Spain, you will likely be required to show proof of coverage for private health insurance for residency. The requirements have evolved over the years and at present, it needs to be equal coverage to the Spanish health system. Caser Seguros meets the visa and residency requirements and gives you dental too! We offer insurance to those 64 years old and younger.Download the full brochure here or you may prefer to read our Health Insurance FAQs.

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Cost Of Health Insurance In Spain

In Spain, the cost of private healthcare insurance is between 50 and 200 a month. If you want to choose private insurance to cover the services which are not covered by state healthcare, you can find affordable plans. These may include services of dental care and blood tests, but not surgeries and hospitalization.

Mostly, they will require you to make co-payments upfront for the services. Your insurance will cover the rest of the treatment. It is also important to check which types procedures your insurance plan covers.

Offshore Private Medical Insurance

In case you dont plan on living in Spain long term and you have no access to the national SNS/HNS, then you might buy a private medical insurance through any of the many available international medical insurance providers.

Private medical insurance comes with COVID-19 coverage and is definitely a better solution than purchasing long term travel insurance.

The main reason is that travel insurance companies tend to cancel policies if they are facing large claim.

In such situations, it makes it even more complicated or even almost impossible to find new insurance.

One recommended provider, with a good reputation and a competitive medical insurance plan for expats, with coverage in Europe and emergency coverage beyond, is Cigna Global.

In case you are from the United States, Geoblue might be more suitable. You can fly back to the US and have them paid for your medical expenses.

If you are not sure which offshore private medical insurance to buy, you can ask for advice from International Citizens Insurance.

It doesnt matter whether its IPMI or social security, both systems will cover you at least for hospitalization, outpatientincluding limited coverage for medication and therapies, basic dental, and emergency assistance and evacuation.

Everything beyond this you can buy separately.

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An Introduction To Healthcare And Health Insurance In Spain

Shreya

As a new expat in Spain, having access to a doctor and arranging for your health insurance might be on top of your list. After all, nobody likes to be unprepared for emergencies or be given a huge bill.

Did you know that Spain ranks as the 8th best healthcare system in the world?

So without further ado, lets get you started on how you can access the healthcare system in Spain using your public or private health insurance.

Spain takes healthcare very seriously. The constitution guarantees the right for every resident to have access to basic universal and preventative healthcare. This includes coverage for any pre-existing conditions.

So if youre deciding to move to Spain, know that youll be in good hands as youll be benefitting from one of the best healthcare systems in the world.

But to access this healthcare system inexpensively, you need to have health insurance. What type of health insurance you need depends on your individual circumstance.

A very common question expats have is Do I need health insurance when living in Spain? or Can I live in Spain without medical insurance?

The short answer is no, not in all cases. But as an expat resident, the smart thing to do would be to get health insurance. Your health insurance can save you thousands of Euros on medical costs and is therefore highly advisable.

General Exclusions And Pre

General exclusions depend on the provider you choose to buy from.

For instance, most do not cover chronic alcoholism, drug addiction, or intoxication due to abuse, nor self-inflicted injuries, which is basically the same for any medical insurance in the world.

However, private medical insurances have to follow the constitutional right of citizens as well.

This means that no-one can be excluded from medical care, even for pre-existing conditions. This does not mean that the insurance company cant charge additional premiums for pre-existing conditions, or perhaps deny an applicant with a pre-existing condition at all.

As any other private company, insurance companies need to make a profit.

Also, for major surgeries, people with pre-existing conditions have to wait longer than usual. Even if its an emergency situation, because the general waiting time for complex operations can be months.

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What Did We Choose For Our Health Insurance Plan In Spain

As of 2013, we moved to Mapfre

In the end, we selected the basic preventative coverage with Mapfre, which included travel and dental. It also covered us for emergency medical around the world, including the US. In hindsight, I think this was the right option for us at the time. Our needs continue to change, so we will again go through an evaluation of our coverage as needed.

Perhaps next time, we may prefer a full-coverage plan offered with Sanitas Expats or Caser Expat . I really liked the online services and they have all of their documents in English as well as Spanish.

They do cater more to foreigners, but their prices show that. When they sent us a quote they offered one that was geared more towards expats and had regular coverage in the US as well.

In 2015 we did more research and opted for DKV Seguros . We have full medical, hospitalization, and dental coverage for our family of 4. This is including 90 days of travel insurance outside of Spain.

It is a network provider system, so we have a low copay within the network. There are several different levels of coverage you may choose from. The price for our family of 4 is 387 a quarter . This coverage would not be sufficient for the current applicants for the nonlucrative visa because we have a copay. As of 2019, you need to have no copay.

Who Can Access Healthcare In Spain

State healthcare is free of charge to anyone living and working in Spain. However, on some of the Spanish islands you may have to travel to find a state healthcare provider. As the Spanish healthcare system is decentralized, you will need to check the conditions in your own area for using healthcare services.

As an expat, you can get free state healthcare if you are:

• a resident in Spain and work in employment or self-employment and pay social security contributions
• living in Spain and receiving certain state benefits
• a 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 a resident in Spain
• under 26 and studying in Spain
• a state pensioner
• staying temporarily in Spain and have an EHIC card.

Spain has bi-lateral agreements with some countries, such as Andorra, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, that allow citizens from these countries visiting Spain, for short periods of time, to obtain free emergency medical treatment. Check with your local Spanish embassy to see if any agreements are in place between Spain and your home country. If you dont have the right to state healthcare, you will have to organize private health cover.

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Check Your Existing Insurance

Before you buy health insurance in Spain, its best to check what your existing insurance covers you for.

Traveling

If you plan only traveling to Spain , then you need valid travel medical insurance.

Within the EU, travel insurance has to have at least EUR 30,000 coverage and will usually be checked when applying for your EU Visa.

These regulations are the same for all EU countries.

Now, this amount is usually covered by most private medical insurance plans in an emergency in out of area coverage.

On the other hand, you may have an insurance plan with worldwide coverage, and therefore Spain might be covered fully within the limits of your existing insurance plan.

But even if you have local insurance somewhere, it is worth checking for any existing emergency coverage you may have on your policy while traveling outside of your usual area of coverage.

In addition, many banks these days include travel insurance with their credit card packagescheck with them as well.

Furthermore, within the EU all countries have an intergovernmental agreement that covers anyone with existing social insurance healthcare from one country in any other country within the EU.

This may not apply for all benefits, but at least for accidents and emergencies, and its worth checking with your home countrys social security health insurance carrier for any coverage you may have while traveling within the EU if you are an EU citizen.

Moving

Overview Of Healthcare In Spain

More than 90% of Spaniards use the public healthcare system. Though its governed by policies laid down by the countrys health ministry, the entire system is decentralized. Because of that, the delivery of healthcare services varies for each region. The healthcare system in Spain costs the nation about 9% of its annual GDP. This works out to about 2,000 per person. However, public hospitals often struggle with staff shortfalls. At times, this shortage leads to over a months waiting time for obtaining a specialized treatment.

The private healthcare system, on the other hand, runs alongside the public healthcare system but is more expensive. Since its more reliable, expats prefer to opt for private care instead of public care. Private medical facilities have very short to almost no queues, which is another major reason why expats prefer getting treatment there. Health insurance covers their major medical expenses, saving them from any financial burden. Some insurance companies pay the money directly to the hospitals upon request, while a few others reimburse expats after reviewing the bills.

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Healthcare System Information For Expatriates Living In Spain

According to a WHO report, Spain has the seventh-best healthcare system in the world. The European nation has continued to provide a high-quality chain of hospitals and other world-class medical facilities across the country. Anyone who lives and works in Spain knows that theres a hospital or a medical facility located nearby.

Spanish citizens can obtain top-notch universal healthcare services at these facilities free of cost. The funding of Spains healthcare system comes from social security deductions made from the salaries of working people. The system is decentralized, which means that you will have to check the available services in your local facility yourself. There is private healthcare too, which is more advanced, but more expensive. Expats can look for some good global health insurance plans that can help deal with such high costs of private care.

Costs Of The Spanish Healthcare System For Expats

Spain spends between 9% and 10% of its GDP on healthcare. The public system is funded through social security contributions. Each region of the country takes responsibility for its budget, which is allocated by the federal government. There are no co-pays for any kind of doctor visit in Spain. As well, most tests, services, and procedures are included in the public system. However, there are modest fees associated with ambulance usage should the service be deemed non-life-threatening. Furthermore, dental care is not included in the SNS system, except for children 15 years and younger. For those not covered by private insurance or the public health system, the average cost of an emergency room visit is 200 and the average cost of a doctors visit is 100.

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Purchase Expat Health Insurance: Sns Doesnt Cover Everything

Whether you are a Spanish national or an expat resident in Spain eligible for SNS coverage, some out-of-pocket expenses are inevitable. SNS does not cover costs incurred for ambulances, dental health, and pharmacy costs. If your expat insurance covers all these, you wont need to incur out-of-pocket expenses while in Spain.

Compare Available Insurance Plans Today

You can get a quick and instant idea about health coverage plans across different insurance companies by using the Rastreator tool below. It is only available in Spanish and will show you a wide variety of results. These result are not necessarily special private health insurance offerings for international students and expats, so be careful. It is a great tool, as you can use these results to compare them to all your insurance research.

Additionally, we highly recommend to fill out our free Health Insurance Inquiry form below. This way you will get a personalized, non-binding insurance offer by our three top recommended Spanish insurance companies: Sanitas, ASISA,Adeslas and Axa. As mentioned before, for many years these companies have been very popular among international students & expats.

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Insurers Have Attracted Over One Million New Clients Since 2013 And Experts Warn This Could Lead To A Dual

Growing numbers of people are taking out private health insurance in Spain. The figure has grown by over one million since 2013, after the government made cuts to public healthcare at the height of the economic crisis.

Today, one in every five households has private health insurance, at an annual average cost of 1,186, according to data from the National Statistics Institute . The sector experienced a growth rate of 5.6% in 2018.

We run the risk of creating a fast lane for those who have private insurance, and a slow lane for those who dontJuan Oliva, University of Castilla-La Mancha

Some of these new customers turned to private health coverage after having bad experiences in the public healthcare system.

When her husband died in 2015 from an infection contracted during chemotherapy at a public hospital, Tina, 65, took the step. In 2012, a 41-year-old journalist named Pablo decided he could not wait over four months to get a gastroscopy to check on his painful heartburn. And Amanda, a 36-year-old graphic designer, felt scared after she developed similar symptoms to the ones that killed her father of sudden cancer in 2017.

There are other, less dramatic reasons for taking the step: not being eligible for fertility treatments in the public healthcare system, or just because your company will pay for it.

Health Insurance In Spain For Eu Citizens

If youve found this page not as a UK resident but as an EU one, you might be looking for the rules regarding how you can access Spains healthcare system. If you jumped to this section without reading the previous one, allow us to explain the European Health Insurance Card .

This is a free system where you can apply for a card that entitles you to use another European countrys health system while youre visiting. Since its free, you might as well get your hands on one if youre thinking of travelling within the EU, since it could save you a lot of trouble if something goes wrong during your trip.

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Health Insurance Companies For Expats And Travelers

Finding a health insurance in Spain is easier if you know where to search. Here we listed the best alternatives for those foreigners looking for insurance companies. You can ask for a quotation on their official page and they will study your case and make you an offer that suits your personal needs.

What are the best health insurances for expats in Spain?

There are many insurance companies in Spain, all of them with their own services and price range. In this article we listed the most popular insurance plans amongst Spanish Residents and foreigners. Each of this companies offers custom plans for each case, adding extra flexibility for those looking for concrete services and coverages.

• Allianz Care: One of the biggest insurance companies in the world. Alliance Health Care offers from full coverage insurance to tailored to your needs plans.
• Bupa Global: Bupa is an internacional health insurance provider, that offers quality services when it comes to expats health care. You can ask for a quotation on their website.
• Cigna Global
• Globality Health

If you need more information about health insurances, or are looking for legal or expat advice in Spain, contact us and we will be glad to help!