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Health care in Spain for American visitors

wco81

100+ Posts
Had a bad encounter with health care while I was visiting Mallorca in April.

I didn't research the options for what to do if I should become sick. I didn't really research travel health insurance either, partly because there's some coverage with credit cards I have and I may yet get some reimbursement through my regular health insurance.

But in the absence of planning or research, I got caught up with a for-profit part of the health care system in Spain, with a less than scrupulous organization.

This private hospital requested 2 large deposits at two different points over a 24-hour period and then a final balance. The first deposit used Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) so they submitted a dollar amount after converting with a much higher than prevailing exchange rate.

This led to a dispute about the final balance, which they were planning to submit using DCC again. I disputed this final charge, which they sent through without my consent. In fact they sent it after I left the premises so they don't have a signed receipt.

My credit card company is not going to dispute this charge. Here's a more detailed writeup that I posted on Flyertalk:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...disputing-foreign-transactions-chase-dcc.html


The lesson, be wary of private hospitals in Europe, or at least Spain or Mallorca. I don't know how things would have proceeded if I'd gone to a public hospital but hard to imagine they'd have the same profiteering approach.

The other lesson, be careful with credit cards. As I note in that FT thread, Chase doesn't require signed receipts even for large transactions.
 
Thanks for the heads-up. Our encounters with the Spanish system were not as critical as yours.

We had cause to use a small town hospital emergency on one occasion for a toe infection. Since it was not a true emergency we were given a time to return in the afternoon. The doctor provided a diagnosis and recommended a prescription and we were on our way without any charge.

Similarly, we were caught in an out-of-the -way-place and needed bandages for a bad cut. There was no farmacia open in town but there was a mobile nursing station that provided us with gauze, tape and ointment. A nurse even offered to visit. We declined. This again at no cost.

One last war story. When walking the Camino, I pulled up lame with a wrenched knee. Unknown to me, the albergue minder phoned a doctor and she came to the albergue to look at it, tape it up and give some pain killers. The charge was: "Give Santiago a hug for me"
 
Apparently my experience is common. There are similar complaints about high bills in UK expat forums as well as in UK newspapers, not just about private hospitals but some public ones who refuse the health cards that UK citizens use expecting to get reciprocal benefits as EU citizens.

In fact the European Community has apparently taken action against the Spanish govt. in the past:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/hea...ourt-over-European-Health-Insurance-Card.html

Now I can see that with a large expat population in Spain, there would be a lot of disputes, especially involving for-profit companies.

I wonder if there are similar stories in France and Italy as well.
 
The DCC is so awful in Spain. I have had to fight many battles there with car rental offices, restaurants, hotels.. I think the banks are really behind it. They are robbers.

My experience with a private hospital in Spain was different - it was not free, but it was not expensive and they did not charge the DCC. However this was not in an area with a lot of expats and I had a friend who is a nurse with me.
I did have to visit the emergency room in a public hospital and that was not free either, it cost 450 euros. They would not take a credit card, would not see me without proof of insurance (I had to wait an hour for someone to bring my insurance card which I stupidly had left in my room) and then sent an invoice through my nurse friend, to pay by bank transfer. I could have easily not paid it. But I did of course.

Note that even if you have travel insurance you have to read the fine print, it covered my emergency room visit but not any follow up visits. My private insurance covered some of the follow up stuff but not all. I was really really lucky I had a friend who was a nurse, I can tell you that!
 
Hmm, I don't know what they would have done with my insurance card.

Actually, I filed a claim with my insurance because they have provision for covering urgent care.

So I could have given them my insurance card but I would have had to pay and try to get reimbursed later.
 
Phew! We were very lucky. We were in out of the way places so maybe they didn't have the forms or possibly, the inclination, to do the paperwork involved.
 
I needed the services of an ophthalmologist while I was in Barcelona for a six-week visit this winter. I was seen the same day I called, the Dr. and everyone on his staff were very professional and very nice. I was seen on two occasions, one week apart. Each bill was for 70 euros, which I considered very reasonable given the care and attention I received. I asked for a detailed bill, with diagnosis so that I could submit it to my travel insurance carrier, which I received. My entire experience was a good one. The Dr. even told me if we needed any other medical attention during our stay to call him and he would arrange with a colleague to have us seen.
 
We had a really good experience in Spain in a private hospital. The cost for an emergency visit along with lab work and meds was 148 EUR, paid via credit card when we registered. The hospital was recommended by our self-catering owner, and he accompanied us and translated for us, until we were called by a nurse who spoke English, the doctor spoke English as well. Things likely went so well due to the assistance of our wonderful self-catering owner. We were told to return the next day to the administration office to pick-up our invoice, as our visit was late in the evening. Our travel medical insurance reimbursed the cost, as well as the cost of a prescription med which we picked up the next day at a pharmacy.
 
We had a really good experience in Spain in a private hospital. The cost for an emergency visit along with lab work and meds was 148 EUR, paid via credit card when we registered. The hospital was recommended by our self-catering owner, and he accompanied us and translated for us, until we were called by a nurse who spoke English, the doctor spoke English as well. Things likely went so well due to the assistance of our wonderful self-catering owner. We were told to return the next day to the administration office to pick-up our invoice, as our visit was late in the evening. Our travel medical insurance reimbursed the cost, as well as the cost of a prescription med which we picked up the next day at a pharmacy.

Which city was this in?

There's some suggestion that the problem with high bills is more acute in areas with a lot of UK expats or otherwise international tourists.
 

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