Anyone know what happens if you have private health insurance and are unfortunate enough to need an ambulance and emergency treatment? Do the ambulances take you to a private hospital?
I was asked this question earlier by someone whose understanding is that the main hospital doesn't treat private patients.
Any thoughts please....
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People should be aware that on some if not all travel ins policies one of the 1st stipulations is that the "local hospital/medical centre" should be used if at all possible. I have a friend who broke her foot and was taken to a private clinic and as she was outside the operating theatre (pre-med state) her ins co informed her that she was not covered as there was the local hospital available and she should have gone there as per policy. Needless to say she went ahead with the op at a cost of a few €k. So read carefully folks.
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By sheer coincidence my wife also broke her foot whilst in Caleta. We took a taxi up to the state hospital in PDR where she was x-rayed then had a cast put on. The hospital don't supply either a wheelchair or crutches to get you on you way. We bought the crutches from the pharmacy and also hired a wheelchair from Miraflor. We had to revisit the hospital by taxi a few times for check-ups etc. When we put the ins claim in they said we could only claim taxi fares for the initial visit, queried why she needed a wheelchair when we had purchased the crutches. There was no quibbles about the medications bill. They also skimmed the exchange rate in their favour so it's no wonder some people inflate the claim amount.
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I had a medical emergency some years ago. Fortunately we were stayig close to a private medical centre. They had there own ambulance and took me to the hospital in Rosario where I spent three days. Our Insurance covered all the costs including the hospital stay. The hospital billed us on discharge. We paid and claimed when we returned home. Having said that, it was years ago and things could, and probably have, changed since then.
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Can any one recommend health insurance as I’m contemplating moving to the island full time and it seems it is needed as part of applying for residency, thanks
I have mine through the bank. approx. 60 euros per month (with no existing health issues).
I've used the Parque hospital in Rosario a couple of times and found the service to be excellent.
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From what we can remember the Medical Centre billed us for everything they provided and we claimed it back from the insurance. As it was so long ago, and we have moved house 4 times since, we haven't any paperwork relating to the event so can only rely on memory but can't remember having any problems claiming.
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(03-12-2018, 07:22 PM)Waverunner Wrote: Can any one recommend health insurance as I’m contemplating moving to the island full time and it seems it is needed as part of applying for residency, thanks
You can take private insurance as suggested by 'classic'. Or, you can go for the state system:
It is very individual as it also depends on your age. If you are a UK pensioner you should be able to get a form S1 from the DWP Overseas Health Team in Newcastle which gives you the Spanish version of the NHS with a few small differences, and best of all, paid for by the UK. If you are under pension age you can take a reduced version of the Spanish Healthcare system (that you pay for yourself) called Convenio Especial, currently around 60€ a month I believe.
Follow the links on gov.uk website, Living in Spain.
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Possibly different for Fuerte give fewer private facilities but in the main, ambulances are chargeable and may well deposit you at a private hospital/clinic. This happens a lot on the bigger islands and often in some of the big mainland resorts. Collusion between some private clinics/hospitals and ambulance services is suspected but not proven.
Most, if not all insurance companies will require you to either have an EHIC or apply for a provisional replacement certificate after any treatment if you don't have one. That way, the insurance companies offset their 'losses' against the EHIC scheme. But of course the EHIC doesn't cover private treatment. Some private costs can be reclaimed under the terms of an EU Directive on cross-border healthcare, but only to equivalent NHS cost of the treatment.
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