Private health insurance

Talk to Alfonso at Gran Alacant Insurances on this forum. Every comment I've seen about him has been excellent. See his advert on this page.

We are with Salus. No complaints

Thank you however, I can’t seem to find his ad. Do you know the name of the company please.

Jan

Thank you, I will have a look at Sally’s

Jan

Thank you I will look at Salus 

Jan

We have DKV, and have current experience.

After noticing a problem early this year, my wife needed lots of tests, and will this month complete a 25 week course of chemotherapy. Surgery is planned for September and radiotherapy for October/November. 

We initially saw our local doctor early in February. Within 20 working days we had 2 more doctor appointments, 4 consultant appointments, and 8 tests (including the complex nuclear medicine scans).

Our local doctor initially tried to put us into the Torrevieja Quiron system, but they couldn't get us in immediately. Our doctor was insistent that we got tests and treatment urgently, and we ended up using 6 different hospitals/clinics to get all the appointments/tests asap. We went to IMED in TV and Elche, Quiron in Murcia and TV, and two further clinics in Murcia.

My wife's chemo treatment has been administered at the Murcia Quiron since March. She has a private room every week. The hospital is exemplary ... calm, quiet and spotless. She sees her consultant oncologist every week, immediately prior to her chemo.

We have been able to speak English at all locations (except one of the Murcia clinics, where another British patient helped us out). The Quiron at Murcia has allocated us a translator/organiser.

It has been necessary to travel. We live in Pinar de Campoverde and the Murcia is just under an hour away.

We have only positive comments - our access to medical services has been immediate (or nearly immediate). The first two tests took place on the day we first saw our local doctor.

Dealing with the insurer in the early days was a bit stressful, but ONLY because of our poor Spanish language skills. Many outpatient tests/procedures required prior authorisation. This was the process ... (a) our doctor or consultant gave us a written prescription for a service (usually on hospital documentation with admin bar codes etc), (b) we photographed the document and emailed it to DKV, (c) we phoned DKV to chase it up, (d) DKV emailed the authorisation back to us, (e) we took the authorisation with us to the appointment, wherever it was. I should emphasise that we were seeking outpatient authorisations urgently (typically for a procedure in the next day or two). 

When we phoned DKV, we ignored the Spanish language menu options. We hung on until the end, when a human being came on the line. We asked to speak English, and were put through to an English speaker. We usually ended up talking to the same guy, who was extremely helpful. 

Once we were inside the Murcia Quiron system, my wife was classified as an inpatient, and the hospital handled all the admin/authorisations with DKV.

The learning points here are 

- most things need authorisation

- you have more responsibility for managing the process

- you keep and take care of your own medical test records ... unlike the British NHS.

I hope this is helpful. For us, travelling an hour or so isn't a problem, but this might present a problem to others. 

DKV does not contract with all hospitals for all services .... so you have to go where DKV send you. 

DKV were helpful and flexible in permitting access to multiple service providers to get lots of tests done very quickly. That flexibility enabled a very quick treatment start. 

We have no experience outside of DKV. Other companies may be just as good or better, but we have no difficulty in recommending DKV. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, it’s good to hear the medical side is efficient. I shall explore DKV as well as other companies recommended.

I wish you and your wife the very best of health in the future.

Bless you and thanks again,

Jan

http://www.granalacantinsurances.com/?utm_source=CostaBlancaForum&utm_medium=web&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=CostaBlancaForum

Alfonso is a member of this forum, so you can also contact him by private message:

https://www.costablancaforum.com/profile/?id=8855

Thanks I have contacted him

KR Jan