The answer is yes, even if you do not have private health insurance it is possible to go to doctors, health centers, clinics, and private hospitals that allow this possibility. The supply of access to health and medical care in Spain is wide and plural, allowing one to choose according to the needs, preferences, and situations of each person.
Private healthcare is not synonymous with being insured with a medical policy. People who do not have private health insurance can also access private centers and their professionals. There is a wide variety of alternatives so that each citizen can choose at any time which doctor they want or prefer to go to.
Centers and mixed services: insured and individuals
There is a wide variety of health services: radiodiagnosis centers, hospitals, privately owned dental clinics. Both people with medical insurance who have a concert with it and people without insurance can go. The difference is in the form of payment, and it is also usually in the price that each user profile pays.
The mixed centers usually have prices for the general public and other rates or payment alternatives for the insured who have this benefit in their insurance. The staff and facilities and the services as a general rule are the same and are available both for uninsured people who pay their bills personally and for insured persons who enjoy the rate and payment method agreed with their insurer.
This type of assistance is common in small places or places with little health supply where insurers do not have their resources and take advantage of those that exist, usually sharing them with other companies and private clients.
Exclusive insurance centers
For a long time, the large and leading insurers have been growing and equipping themselves with their health resources, especially in large cities where the most significant number of insured are concentrated. Many of these places only serve their policyholders exclusively and under the particular conditions agreed in their policy.
Centers owned by an insurance company but which admit individuals
This type of medical center is becoming more common every day, especially in the health sector related to specialists such as dentists. The clinic or hospital belongs to a particular insurance company. Still, it is not for the exclusive use of its clients. Instead, it reserves a percentage of places appointments for people who are not insured themselves but who attend privately.
In the cases of insurance centers, it is easy for the company’s clients to have certain advantages such as preference on the waiting list and, of course, better rates, but there is no total exclusivity. In the case of hospitals, you can find services open to people with and without insurance, but others are reserved only for clients.
private medical centers
There are private health resources; they do not have agreements or concerts with companies. They have a single list of prices and care. The patient, regardless of their insurer or if they do not have one, can access this health care by paying the rates established by the center or the liberal doctor who exercises his profession in a particular way, is not contracted with any insurer, or has private agreements with the same.
The patient of a private health resource has to personally pay their bills or access the financing offered by the place. However, through the reimbursement modality, there is the possibility that an insurer finally pays for this care. Still, the insured with this type of insurance and this reimbursement coverage, in general, has to advance the money and then process invoices and claim them from your insurer. It is a prevalent and highly demanded modality when patients have regular doctors who do not want to leave to get specific insurance.
What are the advantages of hiring health insurance to enjoy private healthcare?
As has become clear, access to private healthcare is not the great advantage of having health insurance because there is the possibility of accessing it without a valid policy. Although there are insurers with their doctors and centers, totally exclusive for their policyholders, there are other possibilities for those who want to access public health without insurance.
More than 10 million people have health insurance in Spain, and since access to private healthcare is not exclusive to them, it is clear that other essential attractions lead citizens to take out health insurance.
Economic savings
Consumers and figures from the sector confirm that accessing private healthcare is always cheaper if it is done through private insurance. In each case, this saving may be minimal, but it may be a high percentage in cases of treatment or chronic or prolonged illness. The same happens in the case of families with children who prefer or need private health care. If they take out medical insurance for this, it is confirmed that they will save.
Even in the case of medical services that may not be fully covered in a policy, the price is more adjusted if you are insured. The companies generally include bonuses, discounts, and special prices concerning the usual price.
Ease of procedures and location
Access to doctors and health centers arranged with the different insurers or owned by the company is much easier if you do it as the holder of private health insurance. Insurance customers have exclusive access to specialized medical directory guides, lists, online appointments, or an information platform to manage queries, tests, payments.
You are finding a doctor without references, without knowing the sector. Both in a big city and a smaller place, perhaps you know little or when you are there temporarily, on vacation, for work. It is complicated, and sometimes it is a significant burden. However, when you are part of an insurance company, all these procedures are simple, comfortable, and fast, even when assistance is needed.
Waiting time is shortened.
One of the most common complaints among patients, especially those in the public health system, is the waiting time, especially in consultations with specialists or surgical interventions. The insured confirm and coincide in pointing to waiting lists as one of the most important reasons for taking out a medical policy and thus avoiding them or minimizing the waiting time for any health intervention.
With a health policy, you have access to complete and numerous medical charts that minimize the waiting time to go to a consultation or take a test. Insurers are constantly improving and increasing the quantity and quality of their medical services to offer the best and fastest services to their clients.
Additional and complementary services
Today medical insurance is complete and versatile. Every day insurers design new products to respond to the needs of their customers, managing to retain their policyholders and attract new customers.
Medical services are not the only claim of many health policies that complete their advantages with services in other fields such as leisure, beauty treatments, or significant discounts in other sectors or similar services.
tailored policies
Insurers now offer flexible medical policies so that the client pays only for what he needs and adds or subtracts benefits to adapt the premium as much as possible. The forms of payment are adaptable, the number of holders, the breadth of their coverage, or their geographical scope.
Today the insured pays for what he needs to guarantee security and peace of mind, whether he is looking for comprehensive medical insurance or only wants to cover emergencies or does not wish to have hospitalization services. Depending on the holder’s preference, it is also possible to contract policies with copays, reimbursements, or without.
Being the holder of a medical policy individually, as a family, or through the company you work for is a booming trend and one that is constantly growing, according to data from the sector, which confirms that every day there are more citizens who they decide to have a medical policy to have access to private healthcare. However, it is not always necessary to go to doctors or personal healthcare resources.
To get a good medical policy, we recommend that you select the best health insurance on the market.
- Suppose you are interested in a specific doctor or a hospital, for example. In that case, it is best to find out at the center or the clinic because there are usually different resources and forms of access, increasingly, to adapt to all needs. Likewise, if you are the holder of health insurance or want to be, consult all your doubts and know all the modalities to go to the doctors you prefer or need.
