• SPAIN Health Insurance Information

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Spain's healthcare system is among the best health programs in the entire world. However it also have its pitfall and a large number of people in Spain choose private healthcare whenever they can do so.

The preference for private healthcare is the result of the long waiting periods patients have to deal with in the public system.

Private healthcare providers offer faster services as opposed to the length of time people experience within at public medical facilities. Apart for emergency, waiting periods can very often last between one week to several months.

The Spanish national healthcare system called "Instituto Nacional de la Salud" Spanish nationals, no matter whether they have high or low income.

The Spanish healthcare system has a decentralized organization which aims to provide equity of access to the citizens and therefore avoid further dense health service in large urban areas. The last reforms have rather regionalized the system in order to improve the reactivity of the system and also to further increase the involvement of the community in the management and improvement of the Spain national healthcare system at both local and regional levels.

The Spanish Health care organization is organizez within three organizational levels:

1. A Central level called "Organizacion de la Administracion Central"
The main central administration is in fact the Ministry of Health called "Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo".
This specific agency is currently in charge of various health proposals. They are actively planning and managing health guidelines. They are also in charge of coordinating the various activities which aim to reduce the consumption of forbidden medical products.

2. An Autonomous Community level called "Organizacion Autonomica"
Each of the 17 Autonomous Communities are responsible for the territorial management of health services called "Comunidades Autonomas"
As such, these Autonomous Communities are entitled to offer integrated health care to the citizens through the various Health center of that particular community.

3. A Local level called "Areas de Salud"
This level set the important structures of the Spanish national health system. It is also in charge of managing the health services which are found within the Autonomous Community level.

Private Healthcare in Spain

The private Health Care in private hospitals as well as clinics in Spain is paid directly or most generally, handled by a private medical insurance provider. As stressed above one of the strong benefit of choosing a private health insurance in Spain is not to have to face the long waiting period that may be necessary before you can visit a doctor found withing the public healthcare service.

Foreign expatriates are on the other hand advised to call upon a sustainable and comprehensive medical plan to face high medical cost.

If you wish to have further information about international medical insurance  or a  free quote, please do not hesitate to contact one of our highly trained advisors.