Health Insurance Spain

There has been a huge uptake in private health insurance policies in Spain over the last few years. In part, this may have been down to the Covid 19 Pandemic. It might have something to do with an increasingly competitive market of Spanish health insurance providers. Whatever the reason there is now a huge range of products and providers. This can make the client’s task of choosing the right product more difficult.

When deciding on Spanish health insurance it is important to choose the right level of cover. For example, we are specialists in providing health insurance for Spanish non-lucrative visas. The Spanish authorities are quite specific with what level of health cover your policy must have if you want health insurance in Spain for a visa application. The same for those EU nationals seeking health insurance for Spanish residency or those after a student or Golden visa.

Contents

• Health insurance in Spain for a non-lucrative visa
• Health Insurance For a Digital Nomad Visa
• Spanish health insurance for a golden visa
• Health insurance co-payments
• Health insurance with no-co-payments
• Grace period
• Repatriation cover
• Travelling abroad
• Dental cover
• Pre-existing conditions
• Changing your Spanish health insurance provider
• Monthly payments

Health insurance in Spain for a non-lucrative visa

If you are looking to obtain a Spanish health insurance policy as part of your non-lucrative visa application, then be careful to choose the right broker. There are many insurance providers including staff in financial institutions that will merrily sell you a health insurance policy. However, far too many have little or no knowledge of the requirements needed to satisfy the Spanish authorities.

Getting the wrong policy and starting it at the wrong time can be a very costly mistake. Additionally, the Spanish consulate in one country does not necessarily interpret the rules the same as a consulate in another country. Even the Spanish consulates in the UK differ between them as to what is acceptable and what is not. Find out on our specific page about Spanish health insurance for a non-lucrative visa

It is not only the premium you may lose for a policy you can’t then use to get your visa. A possible delay means that other paperwork you have had translated and apostilled then runs out of date.

Use an experienced broker. Contact us for a free consultation. We will be delighted to prepare some quotations for appropriate products for you without obligation.

We will help you find the right health insurance in Spain and hold your hand from the application form to sending you the certificates you need to present at the Spanish consulate. After that, we will still be with you. We provide instructions on how to use the health policy once you arrive. Also, we help you with the process of obtaining authorisations for treatment if you need our assistance in the future.

We are happy to liaise with the company you are using to assist you with a visa application.

Please visit our specific page on Spanish health insurance for a non-lucrative visa.

Health Insurance For a Digital Nomad Visa

A Digital Nomad Visa was launched in 2023 and has quickly become a popular visa amongst people looking to come and live in Spain.

This type of Spanish visa enables you to work for a company outside of Spain but the employer is happy for you to live and work from Spain. Alternatively, you are self-employed and live in Spain, and have deals with various customers. Any Spanish-based customers you have will make up less than 20% of your income.

Visit our page on Spanish Digital Nomad visas for more information about the type of health insurance needed.

Spanish health insurance for a golden visa

If you are applying for a golden visa, then you must make sure you buy the correct health insurance product. There are many people selling private health insurance in Spain and there are very many products to choose from.

However, it is important to talk to people experienced in the products suitable for a golden visa. Buying the wrong product can prove a costly mistake. Once issued companies are very reluctant to provide a refund, especially if they feel they have done their underwriting correctly and the error is yours or of an ill-informed salesperson.

Use an experienced broker. Find out on our specific page about Spanish health insurance for a golden visa.

Health insurance co-payments

Co-payments are the amount that the person covered under the health insurance policy in Spain has to pay towards the consultation or treatment. These co-payments vary from a few euros up to much larger amounts depending on the policy you take out.

The advantage of accepting a co-payment on your policy is it keeps the annual premium down. It enables people with other financial priorities to take out health insurance that perhaps they could not otherwise afford.

The disadvantage is that when you are unwell and as a result, your income is affected you are asked to make another financial contribution. You will have to pay something for the consultation. Then if the doctor refers you to a specialist you will have to pay something towards that as well. Many companies have a cap on the amount of copayments you will have to pay in a year. The amounts vary from one company to another.

Health insurance with no-co-payments

The majority of health insurance plans we sell are without a co-payment. This means that all you pay is the annual premium. When you need a doctor you do not pay a further amount to see them. It does not matter if the doctor sends you for an x-ray or to see a specialist it is part of your annual premium. There is no more to pay.

Grace period

The grace period or moratorium is a period of time between when you take out your policy and when all the benefits of the Spanish health insurance policy are available to you. This is a common aspect of nearly all private health insurance in Spain. There are a few exceptions, for example in the case of some policies issued for visas.

What it means is that whilst you can book an appointment for a consultation with a doctor the day after the premium has been paid you might not be able to undergo an operation or have a CAT scan for example. These benefits of your health policy are available to you after an agreed initial period. The period varies from company to company.

Please note, if you are looking for Spanish health insurance for a non-lucrative or other visa a health policy with a grace period may not be accepted. We have specially designed health insurance products available for these clients.

Repatriation cover

This benefit is not included as standard in all health insurance in Spain. Some have it as an optional extra or you buy it as a stand-alone insurance product.

The benefit of repatriation cover is that should someone covered by the policy pass away their remains can be repatriated. For people living in Spain, this would mean their remains are transported back to Spain for burial.

For those people taking out repatriation cover as part of health insurance in Spain for a non-lucrative visa application then the repatriation cover is to transport their body back to their original country. If you are using the Spanish health policy for a visa application then some Spanish Embassies and consulates insist that the policy includes repatriation cover whilst others do not.

Travelling abroad

The most popular private health insurance policies in Spain will include some emergency cover whilst travelling abroad. It is not a substitute for travel insurance and will only provide cover in emergencies. If you want to see the doctor because you have an upset stomach whilst you are on holiday in Germany, then you will have to pay.

There are of course policies for health insurance in Spain that do include a worldwide cover. These policies are reimbursement policies. You would have to pay for the treatment first and the private health insurance company in Spain would reimburse your invoices up to an agreed percentage. The annual premiums for this type of health insurance policy are much higher as you have global coverage.

Dental cover

You will find some policies for health insurance in Spain that have some dental cover. The level of standard cover could be one or two visits to the dentist for a clean a year. It may also include very simple tooth extractions. Some companies have no dental cover but you can buy it as an add-on. You should note that many treatments, even under a separate dental plan, will have an excess payment.

Pre-existing conditions

All the companies that provide health insurance in Spain will refuse to cover pre-existing conditions. The reality of the world we live in is that these are businesses designed to make a profit and pay their investors.

What this means in practice is that if you are accepted by the medical underwriters of a health insurance company in Spain then they will ask you to sign a document that will exclude that condition from cover under the policy.

For example, if you broke your left leg in a car accident and they fitted a metal plate which remains inside the leg then they may want to exclude further treatment related to that injury from your policy. If you did need further treatment, then you would have to fund that yourself.

Some pre-existing conditions are so serious (from the insurer’s point of view) that they won’t just exclude them from the policy they will decline to give any type of health policy at all.

It is advisable to mention pre-existing conditions at an early stage of discussing health insurance with your broker. Tthey will have some idea of which companies are more accommodating and which are not.

Changing your Spanish health insurance provider

Most insurance contracts in Spain are for at least 12 months. If you want to change your Health insurance in Spain, then you need to contact your broker at least two months before the policy renews.

If a new company agrees to provide you with a health insurance policy in Spain then they will waive their usual grace period if you can prove you have an existing policy in force and all the payments have been made to date. (It would not be very attractive to switch companies otherwise would it!)

Monthly payments

You will find that most private health insurance companies in Spain will allow you to split the annual premium into smaller payments. There is usually a cost to this, so the overall annual premium will increase. The amount depends on the company but this may make the premium more manageable for some people.

The insurance contract is for 12-months. If the Spanish health insurance company offers you the ability to pay in instalments, you are legally contracted to make all the instalments to complete the full 12-month premium. You cannot pay monthly, for example, for three or four months and then stop paying.

We have mentioned monthly payments here but you can pay quarterly or half-yearly if you choose to.

Please be careful because there are particular conditions of payment related to people taking health insurance for visa applications.