Is Private Health Insurance Cheaper Than New Spanish Contributions?

A new compulsory health insurance contribution in Spain is more expensive for many expatriates than taking out private international medical insurance

If you’re an expatriate living in Spain you’ll be very well aware of the most recent changes to the healthcare system.  Basically, expatriates who were living in Valencia but not contributing to the Spanish social system through employment based contributions or via voluntary contributions, but who were under retirement age and not on benefit are now required to contribute €90 a month in order to remain within the state healthcare scheme.

However, is private health insurance actually cheaper than these new Spanish contributions?  In many cases the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ – and not only that, in many cases you could be better off with private medical insurance in place.  However, the thought of getting health insurance is a bit daunting for many who have already moved abroad – and so for some it is just easier to pay this €270 quarterly bill…

If you’re affected, in this report we’ll show you how actually you could be wasting a lot of money unnecessarily by passively opting in to the Spanish system.  If you want your healthcare assured and you are already paying the €90, we’ll show you how you could potentially be getting better protection for your cash by going private.

In the olden days, (pre 2009!), international health insurance was actually quite inflexible.  You had a limited range of policy types from leading insurers – along the lines of a gold, silver and bronze range – and within these packages you had little room for negotiation.  If for example the bronze package was adequate but you’d love to have paid a little more just for the addition of maternity cover for example, you would have to upscale to the all singing all dancing gold package.  Hardly ideal for everyone – or anyone come to think of it!

But 2009 brought a revolution to the international and expatriate health insurance industry thanks to the likes of BUPA.  Nowadays you can work with a number of the leading international and national insurance providers and pick and mix the range of cover options you want.  You choose from add on modules of cover that you can tack on to a basic package of international health insurance.  Alternatively, you may be able to benefit from the fact that there are new products from insurers coming to the market in nations such as Spain.  IMG Europe has launched a series of very straightforward and affordable products specifically for expatriates in the likes of Spain Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Malta and Gibraltar for example.

Each of these options discussed can potentially provide cheaper, more comprehensive cover for you if you’re living in Spain at the moment.  Spain is blighted like Britain with waiting lists and an underfunded state health care system – yet with private medical insurance in place you can jump queues, go private and get seen, treated and cared for far more quickly and comprehensively.  If you have pre-existing conditions however, this is the one time when the local Spanish system of paying your monthly €90 might be better for you.  Few insurers will take on pre-existing conditions, and when they do there is usually a higher premium in place as well as a greater excess and many more conditions that apply to your cover.

However, you really need to know that there are excellent health insurance offerings out there in the private marketplace nowadays, and for less than your €90 monthly premium in Spain, you could have international private cover in place that is worth more, so much more than what the Spanish authorities can promise you.  It’s a buyers market after all, and it’s your health we’re talking about here.  Why take a risk?  Why not shop around, gather some quotes and compare cover – you have absolutely nothing to lose and potentially absolutely everything to gain.