Sidney V. Says:
Hi Terry,
I read with interest your reply to Victoria L., “Can I move to Portugal on $27,000 a Year?”
I have a question in a similar vein with respect to “top-up” health insurance for persons over 75 years.
Is “top-up” or “supplemental” private health insurance available in Portugal for persons aged 75 and 80 once they have arrived with the D7 Visa and obtained their SNS National Health coverage?
IL Portugal Correspondent Terry Coles Says:
Thanks for contacting IL and for your interest in Portugal.
Anecdotally, I’d say that healthcare and health insurance is the biggest reason that most Americans choose to move out of the U.S. and retire abroad. As part of the D7 or any other visa in Portugal, you will be required to show proof of private health insurance that works in Portugal. This is not a top off plan but a requirement that you will need to have for the duration of the temporary visa, which is five years. You will also have access to the public healthcare system but most expats prefer to use the private system for several reasons.
In the private healthcare system, I can go to a hospital website (doctors’ offices are in the hospitals) and request an appointment with an English-speaking doctor of my choice. Wait times are not too long to get appointments and the care is excellent. In the public system I would have to go down to my local health department, take a number and wait to be seen by whatever doctor is there, and they may or may not speak English.
To have a procedure or surgery in the public system wait times can be long, often months or longer. In the private system this is not the case, and procedures can be done in a timely manner. But in the event of an emergency, if we call an ambulance for something major like a heart attack, we would be taken to our local public hospital for treatment. If we were stable, and had private health insurance, we could ask to be transferred to the hospital of our choice.
Just to give you an idea of how affordable healthcare is here: My husband spent six days in HPA Gambelas, a JCI accredited, private hospital near Faro for post-Covid issues. He was on IV antibiotics daily, had a CT done, blood and urine tests daily, a vegetarian diet of his choice, and was in a private room. The total cost for six days, including one day in the ER was just $1,400 before we submitted the bill to our insurance company—and just $235 after!
Amazing, eh?
There is only one company, called MGEN, that offers coverage to those over age 70. Here is a link for more information. (If you use Google Chrome for your browser, it will automatically translate any website into English, just in case this comes up in Portuguese.)
Hope this helps.
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