There are more benefits to having private health insurance than the fact it’s necessary to help ex-pat clients apply for a union lucrative visa.
Post-Brexit, British clients need private health care.
The two main ex-pat cohorts who need private medical care in Spain are;
- British people who, due to Brexit restrictions, can no longer take advantage of the Spanish health care system. This applies in particular to our Non-lucrative visa clients. These tend to be British people who are living in Spain, post-Brexit, and who have applied for a visa to live in Spain without any economic benefit. Spanish Solutions is currently processing visas for our clients. (www.spanishsolutions.net)
- Everyone else who has access to public health but just feels they need that extra security of private cover. Undoubtedly the Spanish health system is changing, and not necessarily for the better. The good news is that the Spanish health system is still in the WHO’s top ten worldwide ranking of efficient health systems. The SNS has started to reform and it is not as efficient as it used to be in our opinion. The management changes in Torrevieja hospital for example are not to the benefit of the patients.
Non Lucrative visa clients:
Many of our clients are confused about the rules and obligations if they decide to remain living in Spain. There are tens of thousands of British ex-pats who need to have a visa, ideally a non-lucrative visa.
The specifications are tough. The two absolutely immovable pillars of the application are:
- You must be able to prove financial independence. We have discussed this before in a previous post.
- You must have suitable private health care.
What else will Private Medical Insurance in Spain buy you?
Private health insurance firstly guarantees you quick access to medical attention without the headache of waiting lists. Medical care is found at the best centres and with the best specialists across the country.
You can skip the long lines. A surgical procedure in Spain reserved through the public system will take an average of 120 days. Through our medical insurance partners, DKV, this will take just 30 days.
We recently established a partnership with our neighbours in La Zenia, DKV health insurance. DKV Integral operates all across Spain and offers the best medical specialists such as Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Ruber clinic, Teknon clinic, the Quirón Hospital Group.
Josefina from DKV insurance is our contact person there and she explained some of the benefits to us.
WHAT IS DKV PRIVATE MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR?
• You will access the best specialists and hospital centres in Spain.
• Clients can avoid waiting lists and get preferential health assistance.
• There are no hold-ups for general and paediatric emergencies.
• Our clients have the ability to choose the specialist doctor or hospital they want to go to.
• Dental coverage is included in the policy.
• We can even avoid trips, save time and hassle using digital health solutions.
SUMMARY OF COVER WITH DKV MEDICAL INSURANCE
• The very best doctors and medical centres in Spain.
• More than 40,000 professionals and 1,000 health centres, such as the Teknon clinic, Quirón, Ruber, Clínica Universidad de Navarra (CUN); All having to pay more for them.
• Global travel assistance; The best emergency cover on the market for trips of up to 180 days, with a maximum limit of €20,000.
• Work-related and traffic accidents covered.
• Up to 2,400 euro compensation for hospitalisation in centres for which DKV is not responsible.
• No limits on podiatry, physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
• No limits either on prostheses, except for cardiovascular prostheses, which has a limit of €12,000.
• Second medical opinion.
• Psychotherapy: 20 sessions/year. Covered in this; eating disorders, bullying at school, cyber-bullying, occupational stress and gender-based or domestic violence.
• Respiratory rehabilitation.
• Assistance in pregnancy and childbirth. Including; 3D/4D ultrasound during pregnancy. Also included here; non-invasive prenatal genetic screening (fetal DNA) in at-risk pregnancies.
• Hospitalisation in Spain with no limit to the number of days, except for psychiatric treatment, which is capped at 60 days/year.
• PET/MRI in oncology.
• Conservation of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.
• Biomechanical gait analysis, carried out every 5 years in adults and every 2 years in children.
• Nutritionist, 20 sessions per year, for the treatment and management of obesity.
• Da Vinci robotic surgery for help in prostate cancer cases.
• Endopredict, genomics platform in order to estimate the risk of breast cancer recurrence and the benefits of any proposed treatment.
• Breast reconstruction following radical surgery.
• 3D mammogram.
• Reimbursement abroad for serious diseases, up to 16,000 euro.
• Optional module in gynaecology and paediatrics.
• Many preventive programmes: child health, healthy pregnancy and childbirth, coronary
risk prevention, women’s cancer, prostate and colorectal cancer, stroke and diabetes.
• Dental coverage included at no extra cost.
These are some of the benefits of private medical insurance as explained to me by DKV insurance.
If you’d like to find out more or to have a call-back/Zoom or face to face meeting with an expert, please just let us know.
Likewise, if you are exploring the private insurance option in order to be eligible for a visa and the right to ultimately apply for Spanish citizenship, please feel free to reach out to us here. You can also check out the various blog posts on the Spanish Solutions blog.
Finally, I mention the option of using Equity Release in order to achieve the Spanish NLV or non-lucrative visa. We’ve also written about this on our sister site, JJC Capital partners. Feel free to ask how this can work and is working for our clients.
