As an Expat moving to Spain, one of your biggest priorities will be to make sure you are covered from a Healthcare perspective. But do you need to hire private Health Insurance? And how much does it cost? Can you even access Spain’s public healthcare services? We’ll answer all of these questions in this post. Let’s get into it!
Spain offers a universal healthcare system to all residents (although not all expats), known as Sistema Nacional de Salud or SNS. The public healthcare system in Spain covers all kinds of healthcare services, including general medicine, family practice, pediatrics, nursing, physical therapy and others.
Most of these services are free of charge, although residents are directly contributing towards them by paying taxes on their monthly salary. This deduction will appear in your salary statement as “Seguridad Social”.
Spain’s Healthcare System is ranked 17th out of 44 countries in Europe according to Statista. But 26% of the Spanish population also contracts private Health Insurance.
Reasons why people contract private Healthcare, is to be able to access faster services, and get seen in private clinics and hospitals. While public healthcare in Spain generally works very well, some highly demanded services can have weeks, sometimes months of wait until you can secure an appointment.
Only some expats have the right to access Public Healthcare in Spain. You can follow this rule of thumb to check if you have the right to access Spain’s Universal Healthcare system:
✅ If when you applied for your NIE (or Visa, if you’re not an EU Citizen), they did NOT ask you for proof of Health Coverage, you probably have the right to access Public Healthcare in Spain.
If you’re not sure how to check the requirements for your NIE, you can sign up to Matutto for free to learn more. Or better understand what is a NIE here.
❌ If when you applied for your NIE or Visa, they asked for proof of Health Coverage, you may not be elegible for Public Healthcare and may need to purchase Private Health Insurance for your stay in Spain.
Generally, you can also present your EU Health Card as proof of Coverage, which would automatically give you access to the Public Health System in Spain. If you’re not an EU Citizen, you should also check if there’s any Healthcare Coverafe programs between your home country and Spain, as some have an agreement that would also provide you with access to the SNS.
Otherwise, you’ll need to purchase a private Health Insurance that covers you during your time in Spain.
If this is your case, don’t worry, because we have partnered with Feather, one of the best Health Insurances for Expats in Spain, and you can use our discount code MATUTTO! to get 15% OFF.
Now, if you have found that you have the right to access Public Healthcare in Spain, you can’t just show up to a clinic and request an appointment. There’s a number of steps you need to get through to register in the Public Healthcare system before you can avail from the services. Here’s how you do it:
Whether you have access to Public Healthcare or not, you may want to consider purchasing a private health plan for peace of mind, or to get faster access to health services when you need them.
We recommend, Feather, a Health Insurance built for Expats. Not only you can get the coverage you need but you can also receive all the documentation you may need to prove your Healthcare Insurance in Spain, which you may need to provide during your Visa or NIE Appointments,
You can use our discount code MATUTTO! to get 15% OFF on Feather.