private medical insurance

Hi Johanna,

I don't believe there is a "typical" cost, because there are too many variables, e.g. age, pre-existing conditions (or not), smoker (or not), level and extent of cover, etc.

For example, my husband and I have Standard Plus cover with ASSSA, which we took out when we were aged 55 and 58 respectively (ASSSA guarantees no age-related premium increases), neither of us smokers and no pre-existing conditions, and our annual premium for the last 4 years has been Eu 1,870.  I couldn't find any brokers in Spain, who trawl the whole of the insurance market; they have agents who act for individual insurers, so you have to obtain quotes from several agents for comparison.  I approached 6 agents and the variation in cost was substantial - more than Eu 1,000 in a couple of cases.  ASSSA wasn't the cheapest, but cheaper than most; being healthy and (relatively!) young, we felt they offered the best solution for us.

Kind regards,

Kim

thank you so much for the information  

Hi

My wife and I pay 1760 Euros per year in total, aged 60/58 when we took out the insurance, although my wife had some expensive treatment last year and the co-pays took the cost to 2360 Euros

But ... it's not just about cost. If you gain Residency, your PHI will, in time, become your only source of healthcare. So accessibility and quality are the important factors.

My wife and I have our health insurance with DKV - they have been absolutely fantastic. 

BUT we have had to travel to obtain treatment and tests, mostly to the Quiron Hospital in Murcia. We have also used (I think) 8 other medical facilities in Murcia, Elche and Torrevieja. 

This seems to be quite normal. We have met numerous other people "doing the rounds" - each having different insurers.

Into the detail .... insurers may quote the various clinics and hospitals that they use, but in reality, they pick and choose exactly what services they contract for at which hospital. So if your insurer's brochure says that they use (say) Quiron or IMED hospitals/clinics, the city you have to go to depends on the medical service you need.   

We use a GP in our village (not the health centre) and she acts as the gateway into the DKV system - and she is very good at it. 

Our local GP works with DKV (which may be why our local insurance broker recommended DKV). So it seems that the most important thing is to have an insurer who works with your local GP.

Hi Kelvin,

Interesting to see you mention "co-pay".  We were told that policies which allowed co-payments weren't sufficient for Residencia - was that questioned?

Kind regards, 

Kim

Hi Kimmy

Interesting question ... we took out our DKV PHI in January 2018, when we started the Residencia process. At the time we understood that it was good for Residencia. The product is called "Integral Plus".

For reasons that I won't bore you with, our Residencia took ages. We didn't actually go to the interview at the Police Station in Orihuela until August 2018. Our gestor came with us. We hadn't met her before, but she was arranged by our insurance agent. She was worth her weight ...

Soooo .. our PHI documents had a schedule stapled in the back - our names, ages, my wife's minor pre-existing conditions etc., and a list of co-pays. The gestor simply removed and discarded the schedule, right in front of the police officer's nose, and he didn't bat an eyelid. 

The co-pays were quite low for expensive/complex tests (e.g. radio isotope tests). My wife had loads of those. She hit the co-pay cap of 600 Eu. Excellent value !

I have not needed any medical attention so far, but I also have a co-pay cap of 600 Eu, so, in theory, our joint co-pay cap could be 1200 Eu if we were both ill in the same year. 

As I recall, a zero co-pay policy would have cost 800 Eu more than the co-pay policy. At the time we thought we were super-duper-healthy. What a difference a year makes !

Thank you so much for your reply i really appreciate it .