Health insurance
Health Insurance in Mallorca, Spain
The Spanish health system has a different structure than in Germany. There is the Seguridad Social, which is the legal compulsory insurance for all working persons in Spain. Depending on where you live, you will be assigned a permanent medical centre and a Spanish general practitioner. The general practitioner must first issue referrals for a specialist visits or diagnostic procedures, which often involve long waiting times.
Worldwide, free choice of doctor – without long waiting times!
In addition and parallel to the Seguridad Social there is the private health system. It consists of private clinics and private medical practices. Here you are able to make an appointment directly with the specialist of your choice. This is much more flexible, comfortable and above all faster – and there are also many German doctors.
In order to have access to this private health system, you need a Spanish private health insurance to cover the costs – as a supplement to the Seguridad Social or to your German compulsory health insurance.
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Every Spanish insurance company has a contract network with private doctors and clinics, which bill directly via the card. Some companies also have German doctors in their contract network on Mallorca.
In order to also be able to visit doctors outside the contract network, a tariff with reimbursement modality must be concluded.
There are (roughly divided) two types of tariffs:
a) Tariffs that only cover services within the contractual network (principle of benefits in kind), direct billing with the card. The choice of practitioner is limited to the contract network.
b) Tariffs with free choice of doctor and reimbursement of bills from doctors outside the network of contracts, within the network of contracts, are also settled here directly with the card (combination of reimbursement principle plus principle of benefits in kind).
Some tariffs offer free choice of practitioner worldwide, others limit coverage to certain countries. However, worldwide travel insurance for emergencies should be included regardless.
If you choose a tariff with free choice of doctor and reimbursement, you should pay attention to whether the reimbursement is 80%, 90% or 100% and whether there are maximum reimbursement limits. There are also tariffs on the Spanish market with 100% reimbursement and no cost limit. These can be concluded with or without a self-retention. In this case, however, only the reimbursement of bills from service providers outside the contract networks is involved. There are no maximum limits within the contract network.
The comprehensive benefits of your private health insurance
The private health insurance covers outpatient and inpatient treatment, single room and bed for accompanying person in hospital, intensive care unit, surgical procedures, patient transport, home visits in emergencies, general medicine, the best specialists in all fields, state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures, pediatricians, vaccination programmes, screening programmes, cancer prevention, general check-ups, pregnancy support, birth preparation, births, midwives in the clinic or practice, but no home visits by midwives and no home births.
Pay attention to the differences in performance – we will be happy to advise you!
Depending on the tariff, other services are covered in full, in part or not at all. There are many differences here. That is why it is worthwhile, when choosing your health insurance, to pay attention to whether these services are covered. This includes medication and material costs such as glasses and contact lenses, walking aids or wheelchairs, psychotherapy, speech therapy, family planning and medically assisted reproduction, dental treatment, dentures and orthodontics, as well as alternative healing methods such as acupuncture, homeopathy, osteopathy.
But what you should know: Physiotherapy and rehabilitation are only covered by Spanish health insurance on an outpatient basis, regardless of the tariff you choose.
A rehabilitation stay following a hospital stay, which in Germany is a service provided by public health insurance funds, is not covered by any Spanish insurance. The reason is that the Spanish health system does not provide for these rehabilitation stays. Rehabilitation and physiotherapy are only covered on an outpatient basis in the practice. In addition there are no home visits of physiotherapists.
The spanisch insurance doesn’t cover transport costs such as taxis. These also fall to the burden of the patient.
Your health is your greatest good!
In conclusion, it makes sense to have a private Spanish health insurance policy because it can provide you with valuable services in case of illness. Moreover it is also worth to check exactly which services are covered. Since being well informed often means saving costs. Your insurance broker should be able to provide you with this information clearly and transparently.
Fill in this questionnaire today and send it to us by fax 871 966 121 or by mail info@mallorca-assekuranz.de.