Health care in Spain - your options when emigrating

For all people who plan to change their place of residence and go abroad, for example to Spain, the first and foremost thing they ought to do is inform as best as possible about the health care options offered there. The need for such small-scale investigations is even greater when an entire family consisting not only parents and their children, but also pensioners, is changing place of residence permanently. Unfortunately, not many people are in the habit of paying a lot of attention to this specific aspect. However, prior to qualifying for a proper insurance, i.e. the Spanish medical card in this case, one should go on a journey or spend the time in between acquiring the aforementioned official insurance without any 'medical protection', i.e. insurance of their own.

Characteristics and upsides

Having the entire structure and the level of functioning of the Spanish health care and health facilities in mind, it must be emphasized that they are on a pretty high level, with the care in general being on a similar level to the one provided in the United Kingdom. In addition to this, another quite beneficial and useful thing comes in the form of either a translator, or a substantial number of medical staff who speak English. Thus, this aspect should not turn into something concerning at all.

Another mitigating circumstance is that, in case a person or an entire family comes from another country, which is also a member of the European Union, they are automatically covered by the Spanish health insurance, thus making the entire process of adaptation a much less obtrusive and stressful. Those people who have only recently come to Spain, and who plan to remain there on a permanent basis, will have to make absolutely sure that they have acquired, prior to coming to Spain, the latest version of the E111 form, i.e. the European Health Insurance Card. This will provide the person in question with a coverage for just about any of the more general hospital visits and treatments during their stay in Spain.

In addition to the public health care, one also has at disposal other options, which come in the form of a private health care. For example, Helicopteros Sanitarios stand for a private 24 hours doctor call out service, available on the Costa del Sol. What is included in their service is the coverage of any call out general in nature, as well as any emergency treatment, with the transportation to the hospital being also included in the service.