# Health Insurance



## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Hello folkes,
Well back in Blighty after spending a week in and around Javea. We had two days of rain and were frozen in our rented townhouse, sitting with duvets wrapped around us! However, loved Javea and surrounding areas, although could see dog poo as a bit of a problem having to look at the floor when walking instead of the sights!
Anyway, I must get back to request for information, which is:
As my partner and I are not quite retirement age, we will need to purchase private health insurance at least for the first year (until we can pay into the Spanish system). I have looked online and it appears that you can just buy health insurance without completing full details about ourselves. Am I missing something? Does anyone have any advice and reputable companies?
Any advice and experience would be greatly appreciated.
:confused2:


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Hi

You are pretty much right. You will be asked to complete a health questionnaire with most companies and in the vast majority of cases any pre-existing conditions will be excluded (or premiums raised accordingly). Furthermore you will be subject to waiting periods for certain things... if you take out a policy today then fall and break your leg you of course will get emergency treatment from day one but things like surgery, scans and other things will be excluded for the first 6, 9 or 12 months, for example.

Although I get state healthcare in Spain as I work I have always had private insurance. I am not sure if I can write and name names but if not I am sure that a mod will erase the post.

I first had a British company called Expat Health (or something like that). I was a bit wet behind the ears at first and thought that a UK based company allowing me to go to any doctor I wanted would be great. I paid for almost a year and then had an incident (a dog bite) at a weekend and needed urgent help. I called and was told that out of hours they could not advise if I would be covered so I would have to go to a private hospital, pay and then submit a claim... they also said this is how all of their services work. This was a surprise to me as I did not know how much it would cost and of course in the case of something urgent and big you don't want to be worrying about paying.

I soon changed to a Spanish company and noticed the difference from day one. I have been with three Spanish companies and here are my reviews.

First ASSSA (yes I spelt it right). This company is Spanish but heavily focused on expats and provide a service in English which was useful at the time. They work with a voucher system. You buy your vouchers in books of ten which were about 25 euros a book i think. Every time you want to see a doctor you use a voucher. I did find this a little frustrating and inconvenient. They also had a limited number of hospitals in my area and more so when I moved. Most things other than routine appointments have to be authorised which can take a few days although I have to say they were always very good and covered a surgery and other things. Nevertheless I changed to Adeslas for price, convenience and a more convenient medical directory.

Adeslas were very good and took me on covering all existing things (as is often the case if you move from another company). Again I needed a couple of surgeries (routine things) and also my wisdom teeth removing... despite not having dental cover, because I am a wimp and insisted on general anesthetic they agreed to pay in full and were very good. They work with a card and you simply go for appointments and show your card. You have access directly to all specialities without authorisation although most tests (other than routine ones) sucha s scans etc and of course procedures need to be authorised. This usually only takes a couple of days.

I had Adeslas for a few years and cannot fault them in any way other than the fact that their price increased considerably (from 59 euros to almost 80 in two years) and that they do work on a named Dr basis. This means that if they work with a certain hospital they may not work with every doctor there so in one case I wanted a specific doctor, found the hospital he worked at which was in my medical guide but when I went I could not see him with Adeslas as it was another one in their book.

For these reasons I changed recently to Sanitas (and for the fact that through work I got an offer of 40 euros a month for their top cover). So far I am really impressed. Their medical directory is extremely comprehensive and covers the very best hospitals in my area. In fact they work with almost every private hospital and clinic as they are probably the biggest in Spain (now owned by Bupa by the way). Now I have been healthy for a while but I did loose a lot of weight recently and did not know why... this happened at the time I was changing and so had both Adeslas and Sanitas (oevrlap period). I decided to go to see a GP with Sanitas and he said he wanted to be safe not sorry so ordered a full body CT scan which was INSTANTLY approved as these things have no authorisation needed by Sanitas (quite impressive). This, along with blood tests for literally everything imaginable was done the very next morning. They found kidney cysts and within 24 hours I had an MRI scan of my brain and a cononoscopy and camera down my throat under sedation as well as meetings with various highly regarded consultants within a few days.

I should point out that all this was done without having even made my first payment to Sanitas! 

So, to sum up I highly recommend Adeslas although watch as prices go up in your second, third and fourth years. Sanitas work very well and offer so much as well as such speed and a great list of doctors. All in all they score 10/10 from me and come highly highly recommended.

Tip: Buy Spanish, Read terms carefully, Don't opt for cheapest and be honest with your health forms!


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Hello,
Well many, many thanks for sharing your experiences and information, which will be of great assistance to us. Unfortunately, my partner has pre-existing conditions and although we are eager to move to Spain, being 60 and 62, we need to ensure we have decent health cover. Hopefully after a year of being resident in Spain, we can access the government health cover which will be a lot cheaper, and maybe top it up with private.
It is so different to England where anyone from the EU (and beyond) can access full health cover from day one without having to pay into the system.
However, after speaking to various people in Spain, they have good things to say about the medical centres and hospitals, certainly better than our NHS.
Once again, thank you so much for your information.
:eyebrows::eyebrows:


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

I hope that you are ok now.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> Hi
> 
> You are pretty much right. You will be asked to complete a health questionnaire with most companies and in the vast majority of cases any pre-existing conditions will be excluded (or premiums raised accordingly). Furthermore you will be subject to waiting periods for certain things... if you take out a policy today then fall and break your leg you of course will get emergency treatment from day one but things like surgery, scans and other things will be excluded for the first 6, 9 or 12 months, for example.
> 
> ...


We went with Sanitas in our first year but were rather shocked to be notified of an 11% increase in the policy price for the first renewal, despite not having made any claims! When we read the small print of the policy more carefully we also discovered that it only gave cover up until our 65th birthdays, when it automatically terminated - something that the salesgirl failed to mention! We cancelled and then shopped around, making sure this time that we fully understood what we were buying. We settled for El Perpetuo Socorro, an Alicante-based company, who promised life-time cover and annual increases in line with the official Spanish rate of inflation (except for age thresholds). We have been with them for six years now and so far they have kept their promise on annual increases and have also settled all claims without question. It´s a small, friendly company with English-speaking staff and we have been very pleased with the service provided. They have a fully transparent price structure which is detailed on their web site - El Perpetuo Socorro Seguros de Salud en Alicante


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Gazeebo said:


> Hello,
> Well many, many thanks for sharing your experiences and information, which will be of great assistance to us. Unfortunately, my partner has pre-existing conditions and although we are eager to move to Spain, being 60 and 62, we need to ensure we have decent health cover. Hopefully after a year of being resident in Spain, we can access the government health cover which will be a lot cheaper, and maybe top it up with private.
> It is so different to England where anyone from the EU (and beyond) can access full health cover from day one without having to pay into the system.
> However, after speaking to various people in Spain, they have good things to say about the medical centres and hospitals, certainly better than our NHS.
> ...


You can opt to pay into the SS in spain even if not working, others have more info on this and i am sure can comment on it. You pay something like 70 a month and get healthcare.

Pre-existing conditions CAN be covered depending what they are... if for example you have had an operation they may exclude that for a period or if you have had an illness the same. Non life threatening things may be covered too but you need to ask around.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

The Skipper said:


> We went with Sanitas in our first year but were rather shocked to be notified of an 11% increase in the policy price for the first renewal, despite not having made any claims! When we read the small print of the policy more carefully we also discovered that it only gave cover up until our 65th birthdays, when it automatically terminated - something that the salesgirl failed to mention! We cancelled and then shopped around, making sure this time that we fully understood what we were buying. We settled for El Perpetuo Socorro, an Alicante-based company, who promised life-time cover and annual increases in line with the official Spanish rate of inflation (except for age thresholds). We have been with them for six years now and so far they have kept their promise on annual increases and have also settled all claims without question. It´s a small, friendly company with English-speaking staff and we have been very pleased with the service provided. They have a fully transparent price structure which is detailed on their web site - El Perpetuo Socorro Seguros de Salud en Alicante


Well the deal i have with sanitas is through work and guaranteed price... i think they all hike things... i do need to look into the age thing but i doubt i will work at the same place that long anyway so at some point will shop around i am sure. I checked out Perpetuo and will bear them in mind for the future! Thanks


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Just to add I have scowered the conditions of my Sanitas policy and they state that you can contract up to 75 years but once you have it _No hay edad máxima de permanencia_. My OH spoke with them today by email and they confirmed in writing that once you are with them they guarantee renewal for life on the policy we have... and if we leave the job we just revert to the standard rates. 

So perhaps things have changed since you were with them @theskipper!


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> Just to add I have scowered the conditions of my Sanitas policy and they state that you can contract up to 75 years but once you have it _No hay edad máxima de permanencia_. My OH spoke with them today by email and they confirmed in writing that once you are with them they guarantee renewal for life on the policy we have... and if we leave the job we just revert to the standard rates.
> 
> So perhaps things have changed since you were with them @theskipper!


Quite possibly they have changed the policy. It was six years ago that we changed to EPS. It is also possible that the terms offered via company schemes are better than those offered to individuals. That was certainly the case with the Axa PPP private health insurance I enjoyed through my employer for many years in the UK before retirement. I could have continued this policy on the same terms but the premium was GBP 400 a month each, so we politely declined!


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

The Skipper said:


> We went with Sanitas in our first year but were rather shocked to be notified of an 11% increase in the policy price for the first renewal, despite not having made any claims! When we read the small print of the policy more carefully we also discovered that it only gave cover up until our 65th birthdays, when it automatically terminated - something that the salesgirl failed to mention! We cancelled and then shopped around, making sure this time that we fully understood what we were buying. We settled for El Perpetuo Socorro, an Alicante-based company, who promised life-time cover and annual increases in line with the official Spanish rate of inflation (except for age thresholds). We have been with them for six years now and so far they have kept their promise on annual increases and have also settled all claims without question. It´s a small, friendly company with English-speaking staff and we have been very pleased with the service provided. They have a fully transparent price structure which is detailed on their web site - El Perpetuo Socorro Seguros de Salud en Alicante


Thanks for the link Skipper, they didn't ask any medical questions when giving the quote did I do something wrong or do they ask them further down the line.


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Gazeebo, could you keep us updated on how you get on with your quotes as we will be doing this in just over a year.
Cheers
Roy


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

The Skipper said:


> We went with Sanitas in our first year but were rather shocked to be notified of an 11% increase in the policy price for the first renewal, despite not having made any claims! When we read the small print of the policy more carefully we also discovered that it only gave cover up until our 65th birthdays, when it automatically terminated - something that the salesgirl failed to mention! We cancelled and then shopped around, making sure this time that we fully understood what we were buying. We settled for El Perpetuo Socorro, an Alicante-based company, who promised life-time cover and annual increases in line with the official Spanish rate of inflation (except for age thresholds). We have been with them for six years now and so far they have kept their promise on annual increases and have also settled all claims without question. It´s a small, friendly company with English-speaking staff and we have been very pleased with the service provided. They have a fully transparent price structure which is detailed on their web site - El Perpetuo Socorro Seguros de Salud en Alicante


Thanks for this information. A quick online quote with Sanitas was £820 per month and that's without providing full details! It's looking like we will not be able to move to Spain if the healthcare is that expensive, unless I am fortunate to get a teaching job, which is unlikely given the employment situation! Still I will keep investigating and follow up the company you suggested.
Thanks.:fingerscrossed:


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

xicoalc said:


> You can opt to pay into the SS in spain even if not working, others have more info on this and i am sure can comment on it. You pay something like 70 a month and get healthcare.
> 
> Pre-existing conditions CAN be covered depending what they are... if for example you have had an operation they may exclude that for a period or if you have had an illness the same. Non life threatening things may be covered too but you need to ask around.


As I understand it, we can buy into the Spanish healthcare system, once we have been resident for a year.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xicoalc said:


> You can opt to pay into the SS in spain even if not working, others have more info on this and i am sure can comment on it. You pay something like 70 a month and get healthcare.
> 
> Pre-existing conditions CAN be covered depending what they are... if for example you have had an operation they may exclude that for a period or if you have had an illness the same. Non life threatening things may be covered too but you need to ask around.


You actually only pay for health care. That is, any payments made only go towards health and nothing else (so not SS payments) - ISTR.

This is not available in some areas and, as stated, only kicks in after you have been (legally) resident for more than 12 months - you must be on the list of foreigners or have a residencia and by submitting tax returns.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Roy C said:


> Thanks for the link Skipper, they didn't ask any medical questions when giving the quote did I do something wrong or do they ask them further down the line.


I can´t remember, to be honest, but at some time you will be asked to give details of your past medical history and they will exclude cover for any existing health conditions. 
For example, I had a cataract removed from my right eye in the UK eight years ago and I now have one developing in the left eye, but the insurers won´t cover this as cataracts were noted as a pre-existing condition. All health insurers will do this unless you pay an incredibly high premium to cover pre-existing conditions. I have to say, though, that neither of the two health insurers we have used in Spain asked for our UK medical records so they seem to take what you tell them completely on trust. I often wonder if I am too honest for my own good!


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

The Skipper said:


> I can´t remember, to be honest, but at some time you will be asked to give details of your past medical history and they will exclude cover for any existing health conditions.
> For example, I had a cataract removed from my right eye in the UK eight years ago and I now have one developing in the left eye, but the insurers won´t cover this as cataracts were noted as a pre-existing condition. All health insurers will do this unless you pay an incredibly high premium to cover pre-existing conditions. I have to say, though, that neither of the two health insurers we have used in Spain asked for our UK medical records so they seem to take what you tell them completely on trust. I often wonder if I am too honest for my own good!


I switched from Caser to Adeslas a few years ago and they did ask for medical records about a pre-existing medical condition I had. What they didn't ask for was a complete medical history. They trusted me to be truthful about revealing any pre-existing conditions. And BTW, based on the information I provided to Adeslas, they decided they _would_ cover me for any further treatment I might need for that pre-existing condition without me having to pay any extra monthly fee. So revealing your medical past does not automatically mean a rise in the cost of the policy.


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Roy C said:


> Gazeebo, could you keep us updated on how you get on with your quotes as we will be doing this in just over a year.
> Cheers
> Roy


Certainly will.
Sanitas was £820 per month online instant quote, which will be increased with medical history.
El Perpetuo Socorro was around £160 per month, which I would imagine will be increased with medical history.
:juggle:


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

kalohi said:


> I switched from Caser to Adeslas a few years ago and they did ask for medical records about a pre-existing medical condition I had. What they didn't ask for was a complete medical history. They trusted me to be truthful about revealing any pre-existing conditions. And BTW, based on the information I provided to Adeslas, they decided they _would_ cover me for any further treatment I might need for that pre-existing condition without me having to pay any extra monthly fee. So revealing your medical past does not automatically mean a rise in the cost of the policy.


That's good news. Thanks.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Gazeebo said:


> Thanks for this information. A quick online quote with Sanitas was £820 per month and that's without providing full details! It's looking like we will not be able to move to Spain if the healthcare is that expensive, unless I am fortunate to get a teaching job, which is unlikely given the employment situation! Still I will keep investigating and follow up the company you suggested.
> Thanks.:fingerscrossed:


GBP 820 a month? Are you sure? That´s more likely the annual cost!


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Do they really hit you for things like mildly raised blood pressure controlled by low dose meds or cholesterol the usual middle age related stuff. Up until a few months back I had no meds, now I'm starting to think this may badly effect quotes........?


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Roy C said:


> Do they really hit you for things like mildly raised blood pressure controlled by low dose meds or cholesterol the usual middle age related stuff. Up until a few months back I had no meds, now I'm starting to think this may badly effect quotes........?


I don´t think this will be a problem but if an insurer you like tries to include unreasonable exclusions, argue your case. When we switched insurers the new company wanted to impose a six-month wait for any claims on a range of specified illnesses but I wouldn´t agree to this and eventually they gave full cover with immediate effect at the originally quoted price. It´s always worth negotiating!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

800 a month is very strange. I got a quote for my mother who is retired and it was not that much more than this for a whole year.

Minor things are usually as others have said not excluded.. its big things like if you have cancer or have had it in the past or if you have something like a serious heart condition or diabetes. High BP would probably not give you issues BUT of course if you needed heart surgery in the first month because of complications of many years of high bp then this is likely to be questioned or declined!


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