Our Experience with Private Health Care in Spain.
After almost 5 years in Spain, we finally had our 1st experience with Private Spanish Health Care. We always wondered about the mechanics of how it works and I’m sure others do as well. So I’ll tell you about our experiences, thoughts, as well tips on things you should know (which aren’t obvious).
The below is based on our experience. I’d love to hear the experience of others*
*For this post, I’d very much appreciate if people add their comments at the bottom of the post instead of on other media such as Facebook. That way anyone reading this post gets to read the experience of others.
Making appointments
Our private health care in Spain is with Adeslas, the largest of the private healthcare companies in Spain (followed by Sanitas, Asisa and Mapfre).
We wanted to get checkups, we haven’t been to the doctor in 6 years.
There are different ways to make appointments: you can do it online if you have an access code (mine didn’t work and between the agent who registered us and Adeslas chat on their website, nobody could help me. Not a good start). You can also call them to make an appointment. But my Spanish isn’t perfect so I decided that we would do it in person.
So we went to the Adeslas Medical Center which, in Granada, is on Calle Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, 60. Entering, there was a line leading up to a reception desk. There they had 3 people helping clients. Off to the side there were a couple of people handling the phones (they’re the ones who pick up if calling Adeslas to make an appointment, change an appointment or make an enquiry).
We waited about 10 minutes in line before getting our chance at reception. There we explained to the lady that we wanted to get checkups. She checked our cards, and gave us some date options ranging from a few days to a week away. Easy. We booked it for the following week. On the form given to us, the appointment was described as a “consultation”.
Our first Consultation and booking exams
We came back the following week. Our appointments were set for 9 am (for Lissette) and 9:10 (for me). When we arrived there was a huge line for the reception desk. What to do? Our consultation appointments were 10 and 20 minutes away. There’s nobody to help you when you enter (a “Greeter” who tells you where to go would be good), so you don’t know.
Thankfully a nice lady helped us. Adeslas has these automatic machines across from the reception area: put your card in, it reads that you have an appointment and prints out a ticket for you. It told us that we had to go to “Entrada 6”. So we went to the door #6. There, a doctor was already waiting for us. Since we had appointments 10 minutes apart she allowed both of us to come in together. So far very efficient.
The “consultation” wasn’t much of anything: the doctor asked why we came and what we needed and she helped us based on that. We both needed blood and urine tests, an electrocardiogram test, an abdominal ultrasound. Lissette wanted a mammogram and a gynaecology exam, I needed to see a dermatologist. And when asked, we both said yes to the eye exams. The doctor filled these things out on different forms (it all took about 15 minutes), and then told us to go back to the reception to book the appointments.
It took about 15 minutes in line to get to the counter. The lady takes your Adeslas card and the pieces of paper your doctor gave you and starts making appointments. The urine and blood tests were for about 15 minutes later (that day!), the cardiologist about 30 minutes later. I could also see a dermatologist that day but it would be 90 minutes later. We would have to come back the following week for our eye exams and the abdominal ultrasound. The waiting list for Lissette’s mammogram and gynaecology exam was longer – we’d have to come back for that in a month.
You have to pay attention because it’s all a bit confusing: between us we were given 12 different appointments on 12 different pieces of paper. So make sure when you’re up there to ask any questions so that you’re clear as to your appointments.
The same Day tests
As mentioned, some of the exams would be done basically right away. Again, we thought that was pretty efficient.
At the reception, the lady had given us little paper tickets (like the ones you used to get at the bank) for the blood/urine tests. We were told which door to go to. As we were to find out, just look for the crowds: blood/urine tests seem to be the most popular exams and there was a crowd milling around the door of the exam room. We had waited about 10 minutes when I realized that we would miss our electrocardiogram tests which were right next door. I went to where the electrocardiogram tests were to be taken and the nurse there was already waiting for us. We told her we were waiting for the blood/urine test but she said not to worry. So we went in her office and stuck all the wires on us and did her tests.
I was the first one done and as soon as it was finished I checked in next door at the blood/urine door – my number had passed. I went back to the electrocardiogram nurse and told her. She went to the blood/urine nurse and spoke to her…I would be next. It was the same with Lissette.
It was a bit hectic and on the surface disorganized but they fit us both in. The tests were a bit rushed but we were both in and out of there within 10 minutes.
Finally I had a dermatology appointment set for 10:30 but had not been given a ticket. So again, I went to the ticket machine with my card… it read that I had an appointment and printed out a ticket. There it told me the door I had to go to.
The Dermatologist was an uninterested young guy. He looked me over in about 15 seconds and said my moles looked fine. I had a growth which I wanted removed: he told me that I had to call Adeslas main office and get approval. He said I could come back to see him when I got the approval code.
So I went out into the lobby, called Adeslas, and was even able to get English service. It took about 10 minutes of explaining the situation but they gave me the code.
Went back to the Dermatologist, he filled out some paperwork, and told me to wait for him at Door 5.
We wanted for about 30 minutes before he showed up. The operation took about 10 minutes and was a bit rushed: a quick stab with an anaesthetic, a couple of snips with a scalpel, and some soldering. He stuck a bandage on and was leaving the room when Lissette said “he’s bleeding”. He came back, cleaned up the wound again and stuck on a new, bigger bandage.
That was the 1st day at the Adeslas Medical Center. In total we spent 2 ½ hours there and had received consultations with the doctor, gotten blood/urine tests and electrocardiogram tests, and I had a dermatological procedure. In that respect, I though Adeslas was very efficient. Service was a different thing. But I’ll cover that later when summing up.
Follow ups
Nobody had explained how the follow up process worked. We assumed that the doctor who had given us the consultation would follow up with an email or telephone call. Note: I’ll go into further detail a bit further on, just know that’s not at all how it works. YOU have to make an appointment if you want a doctor’s analysis of your results. As I say, I’ll cover that a bit further down below…
BUT, we were surprised the next day to receive blood/urine results from the lab by email. While much of it is technical, the reports state the results under the categories and bolds the results that are above/below what they should be. I was able to see, for example, that my cholesterol and triglycerides were higher than they should be and that my Vitamin D was low. But as I say, that’s the extent of any results that we would have on our exams on that 1st day.
Subsequent tests
The next week we had 3 different tests: the eye exams and abdominal ultrasounds.
Knowing how the system works, the procedure was easy: show up in time for the appointment, put your card in the automatic machine, take out the ticket slip the machine gives you, and head for the door of your test room to see the doctor.
The eye doctor was an elderly man, a professional (unlike the dermatology doctor) who obviously took pride in his work. We both had various eye tests done and he explained what everything meant.
Similarly, the abdominal ultrasound tests went fine, the doctor slapping some gel on my belly and doing a bunch of tests. The only thing I will say: I knew beforehand that I had to fast 12 hours before the exam. But nobody tells you that, the onus is on you to know. Thankfully I did know and told the doctor “yes” when he asked me if I had fasted.
Getting the Doctor’s Follow up
A week after our initial exams, we had not heard from the doctor we had seen at Adeslas. So when I came for the abdominal ultrasound I went to the reception desk and asked them “How do I get results from the tests I did?”. That’s when they told me: it’s up to me to make an appointment to see the doctor again.
So we made an appointment to see the doctor for an analysis of our results.
The following week both Lissette and I arrived for our follow up appointment with the doctor.
“How can I help you?” asked the doctor. We were a bit surprised by the question. We told her we had come for a follow up to our tests.
The doctor plugged our NIEs into the computer and looked up our information, starting with Lissette. She looked over the information sent by the blood/urine lab. Nothing she told us shed any additional light on the test results we had received from the lab. She wrote Lissette prescriptions for Iron vitamins and Vitamin D supplements. When she looked up my information, she told me she didn’t have any information from the lab in her system. “Would you send in to me?” she asked.
That doctor’s follow up exam took 15 minutes and was a complete waste of time. When Lissette and I walked out, we wondered what would happen if we had been diagnosed with a live-threatening illness. “Would we even find out?”.
We weren’t at all impressed.
PS. I’ve never been to a checkup where I’ve never been physically examined by a doctor. Usually they’ll at least check out your ears, nose, see if you have funny lumps, tap you on the knees to see your reflexes. Even the dermatologist didn’t bother, giving me a cursory 15 second look over, even after I told him that skin cancer runs in the family.
Gynecologist
A month after our initial consult, Lissette had her gynecologist appointment. The doctor was a young and very pleasant young lady who worked very professionally. Adeslas had the latest technology and Lissette mentioned that the tests performed exceeded those given by the public system in Canada (where she had to pay for the latest, more detailed exams).
Lissette wanted a mammogram and the Gyno wrote up the slip. We went to the appointment desk and the appointment was made for a week later. An appointment was also made for a phone call with the gynecologist where she would give Lissette the results of the gynecology exam as well as the mammography exam. That was set for 3 weeks later
A week later we came back, Lissette had a 15-minute mammogram. No issues.
3 weeks later, just before new year, the Gynecologist called Lissette and gave her the results of both the gynecology exam as well as the mammography exam. All was good.
That was the last our exams and experiences with Adeslas.
Jan 20 update: I’ve had a few issues with my back and hip over the last few weeks. With us leaving to travel full-time again (which I wrote about here), Lissette said “why don’t we get it checked out?”. I hesitated because I thought there was no way we could get it done before we left Granada on January 31st. But we went to Adeslas and booked an appointment to see a doctor in the Traumatology department for 3 days later.
Today (January 20th), we came back for the appointment. I explained the symptoms to the doctor. 15 minutes later I was getting X-rays. 15 minutes after that I was back in his office and he was going over the results. Turns out all is fine, I’ve probably been overdoing it with our workouts (we’ve been getting in shape the last few months).
I was very, very impressed.
Thoughts and Tips
This is based on our experience. The city, medical center and the doctors you meet where you live might lead you to having different opinions.
But here are our opinions based on our experiences:
Appointment process. Very efficient and timely. We were impressed by how we could book tests the same day or just a few days away. And we were impressed that when we showed up we could just stick our card in the machine and print out a ticket to see the doctor. Very good.
Technology. The Adeslas Medical Center had technology at par with private insurance facilities we’ve been to in Canada and the Czech Republic. I’m not a medical professional but I was impressed by some of the equipment used and tests done. The eye exams, for example, were the most in-depth eye exams either of us ever had.
Service. I’ll admit the first time we went we thought it was a bit 3rd world the way everything was organized. We had no idea how it all worked (it’s why I’ve detailed our experience in this post): nobody advises, nobody follows up, nobody explains. I don’t know how someone who doesn’t speak Spanish gets by. The doctors ranged from excellent and professional to the worst doctors we’ve ever had anywhere.
But coming back for more tests, once we understood how things worked, things were easy. And the last test for my hips really changed my opinion.
Learned: The Onus is on you. Always ask and don’t assume. Ask if you have to fast before an exam. Ask when and how you’ll get the results for a particular test.
A few useful Resources
Buying Private health insurance in Spain. We recommend Innoinsure, they make it easy and offer different policies through various providers. And you don’t need a Spanish bank account – you can pay with foreign credit cards. More info here.
Spartan FX. Buying a house or car in Spain and need to transfer and exchange a large sum of money? More here.
Wise. For everyday transfers and exchanges of money from your home country. Nobody should be using banks anymore. More here.
So is Private Health Insurance “good” in Spain?
We can only compare to Canada and the Czech Republic.
In Canada I never had a family doctor (Canada has universal health…but it’s very hard to get a doctor). I was lucky, during most of my adult life I had an executive health plan with a Private Company (Medysis) that my company paid for. It was excellent…but even 15 years ago a whole set of physical exams cost in the vicinity of $1,200 Canadian (about 750 Euros).
When Lissette and I travelled full-time we’d stop in Prague every few years to get physicals at a Private clinic. Full physicals plus gynecologist exams and mammographs would come out to about $600 Canadian (about $375 Euros). Those prices are from the last time we were there in 2018. Again, service was personalized and excellent.
Compare this to Spain: we’re each paying 65 Euros/month. We’re 59 and 58 years old. When you consider that, private health care in Spain is very affordable. We had all the exams I mentioned above done without ever having to pay anything extra. The only downside is that the level of service can vary according to the doctor you get.
Overall though, I think the service at Adeslas was very good and extremely affordable. I think the last experience I described made all the difference in our final evaluation.
PS. I haven’t written about the private health care hospitals where you go when you have a situation. Adeslas, for example, has a large hospital in Granada separate from their Medical Center.
The above is based on our (limited) experience. I’d love to hear other people’s experience with Private Insurance in Spain.
Related: Private Insurance in Spain (and why you need it)
Related: The best things about living in Spain
Thank you, Frank and Lissette. I have an autonoma policy with Sanitas even though I am covered by the state health service. I use Sanitas for speed. We live north of Alicante and have attended the San Carlos facility in Denia but now go to the new HCB centre in Denia. All the reception staff speak a level of English. So far, I have had only routine blood, mammogram and gynae checks. I have found the medical practitioners to be from good to excellent. My female GP speaks English and I speak a level of Spanish, so sometimes it is a mash-up, but in general I like her. The male gynae from Argentina was the nicest I have ever experienced either in the UK and here. The call centre staff are very pleasant when booking appointments and a text is sent a couple of days before the date. The blood test results (very pleasant technicians) are available via the patient portal and are usually there by lunchtime the next day. Mammogram and gynae results take about a week. The gynae called me with the result, which was great because it saved time. I do find having to see the GP to get a prescription to have a routine blood or mammogram or gynae test a bit time-consuming. They can see from records when the last one was done and one should be able to phone and make an appointment for those. In 2018 I was paying about 38€ per moth and now it is almost 89€. But a blood test alone can be a couple of hundred euros, so even if I only have those three routine tests annually, I am not out of pocket. Interestingly, like Lissette, I also had a severe Vitamin D deficiency, which is very common among those living in warmer climates. Despite ‘paying twice’, I would try to keep a private policy when I stop work. My husband says he is happy to trust to luck and just use the state system. As you have said, much depends on where one lives. And staff move around, so what might be a good centre one year might not continue to be so.
Thanks for that Sue! Very helpful. Isn’t that strange about the Vitamin D? We were both diagnosed as being low…first time anywhere. And to think we come from Canada where winters can be long and grey.
I think overall the system works great. The service depends on the individuals. A few were just awful, but others made up for it. In the end, I just think of what it would be like in Canada these days…on that basis it’s pretty damn good here 🙂
We use Sanitas in Seville and have had nothing but good results. They offer services with English speaking drs/nurses. Appointments have been fast and easy to obtain. So far, no problems with any dr we have encountered. We are older than you guys and pay about 4800e annually for both of us, including dental. Zero out of pocket. Have been hospitalized once for 48 hours and it was high quality care. Zero complaints. In the US, we were paying $1800 a month for ins, with a 10k deductible (each) and no dental. A 2 day hospitalization in the US would have easily exhausted that 10k deductible.
Wow! Canadians are always in shock about the cost of healthcare in the US.
Thank you Paul for sharing your experience. I’m surprised by the english speaking doctors and nurses.
Really good to know about the hospital and that it went well.
As a more direct example, last Nov my daughter was in a mountain bike accident (thankfully, she’s fine now) which necessitated an emergency surgery (lasted 90 mins) and a 6 day hospital stay. The hospital bill (separate from the dr bill and the anesthesia bill) was $387,000! Thankfully, she has insurance and her share will be about $8k, but with so many people in the US now uninsured, and with medical bills not dischargeable in bankruptcies, how is any of this sustainable?!? Another of the myriad reasons why we got out of the US.
It’s crazy Paul. I’ve never understood how that can be the case in a developed country, that someone can be wiped out because of something unfortunate just because of the insane cost of health.
I love Mexico and I could see us living there. But when my mom died last year, she spent 2 days in a hospital and it cost her the equivalent of about 10,000 Euros. She was 78 and had a prior history with cancer so she didn’t have insurance coverage. That’s put me off living in Mexico…again, what to do if something unforeseen happens and you end up weeks in a Mexican hospital? They don’t even want to release you if you can’t pay in cash when checking out.
Everything is relative, but that’s what makes Spain and Europe so attractive. It’s humane. Nobody should end up on the street because of an accident that they can’t pay for…