Private health insurance in Spain with Sanitas

Following on from our blog about the excellent healthcare and assistance available in Marbella and surroundings, today we speak with Inger Bergman Lindvall, who has worked for the private medical insurance company Sanitas for over 20 years. She can be found at the Sanitas office in Estepona.

Nordica: Why choose Sanitas for your private health insurer in Spain?

Inger: Firstly, because our healthcare network is huge. We offer a choice of over 40,000 medical professionals, 1,200 care centres, three Sanitas owned hospitals, 19 Milenium multi-speciality centres and over 170 Milenium Dental Clinics.

With Sanitas you are considered a ‘preferred client’ and you have a very wide coverage. This means that seeing the doctor, having an MRI scan and a blood test, can be carried out in the same health centre, which is not the case with a lot of other insurances.

Nordica: Why would you take out private health insurance when it is possible to use the public system?

Inger: The Spanish public health system is good, but not very fast (unless it is an emergency). You always first have to go to a GP before seeing a specialist, and this takes a long time, sometimes even up to months. Operations that are not emergencies take a long time. Official figures show that at the end of 2018 in Andalucía there were 843,538 people on the waiting list for an operation or a specialist appointment and the average waiting time for an operation in the Málaga province is 322 days. So if you want a problem solved quickly, which is usually the case with a health problem, then it is better to have private health insurance.

For example, a friend of mine hurt her knee during a gym lesson. The next day she has had an appointment with the traumatologist who prescribed an MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging), which was done two days later. The recommended treatment was a meniscus operation. From the day of her injury until the operation, less than three weeks had passed, however, with the public health system she would still be waiting to see the specialist.

Another big advantage is that you can also choose a doctor and visit another one if you want to have a second opinion. There is no limit on visits.

Apart from our own Sanitas hospitals and clinics, we work with all the top health centres and private hospitals across Spain.

Nordica: If somebody would like to have more information about Sanitas, how can they contact you?

Inger: Our office is in Estepona in Avenida Puerta del Mar Nº 46 (close to Lidl). We have an international team covering languages like English, Swedish, German, Dutch and French and you can contact me by phone on +34 951 316 610 and by email ibergman.pex@sanitas.es. You can also have a look at our website, which is in English, Swedish and German.

www.sanitasestepona.com