Health Care

The health care system in Spain is pretty good as compared to most countries, but it's not without its problems. Spaniards usually say that the public health care system has more resources and better machinery, but that it also has a very slow bureaucracy (i.e. 6 month waiting lists). They also say that private health insurance systems like Sanita's (http://www.sanitas.es) are best for handling routine everyday ailments,

  

but they recommend going to a public hospital for anything major.

On the other hand, my wife's aunt, for example, was operated on for a brain tumor via Sanitas and everything turned out just fine. Also, my wife's cousin's husband recently had a heart attack at around the age of 40 and he got taken care of just fine via Sanitas in their private hospital in el Parque Oeste de Alcorcón. They're just ecstatic with the service.

In any case, if you're a European tourist/English teacher in Madrid, the best thing to do is to get the proper paperwork done in your country of origin in order to be able to use the public health care system here for free, which is your right as a citizen of the European Economic Community. I think that the hospital or clinic that you use in Madrid depends more on your geographical location while here or on what the public health service in your country says than on any personal choice or preference.

Apart from the public health system, British teacher/tourists have Bupa, which appears to have some sort of arrangement with Sanitas. If you have Bupa, then all you have to do is to check things over with them (i.e. take care of the paperwork) before you come over.

If you're from just about any other country, including the U.S., you're better off arranging some sort of health insurance on your end before you even come over. Your health insurance will probably provide you with a list of doctors or clinics to choose from.

You should know that you can find private doctors and clinics at a very reasonable cost here as opposed to the U.S. If you're going to stay here for very long and you don't come with a health plan, you should look around for one right away.

You would probably do well to locate the nearest hospital to go to in case of an emergency. Unlike hospitals in the U.S., hospitals here don't seem to have a need to check your insurance coverage before they'll save your life. (I hear that some Americans with severe heart problems used to come over and do things to provoke a heart attack in order to get operated on free.) However, you might find yourself in the waiting room for 4 or 5 hours if you go in for routine health problems to some public and private hospitals.

Lists of Hospitals:
http://www.clinicamoncloa.es/informacion_hosp.htm

Ministry of Health (and consumption): http://www.msc.es/en/home.htm

Something I wrote the last time I had an operation:

I just got out of the hospital this afternoon...

Six years ago I had an appendectomy (peritonitis), which got a bit rough (a capillary or something kept on bleeding), and I had to go through a second "clean-up" operation and spend a few weeks in the hospital. It was a good thing that I had "Social Security", though I think that here they might have taken care of me anyway and charged me later. On Tuesday (a couple of days ago), I went in for a third operation to seal me up inside (a surgical hernia) in my stomach where some of the second surgeon's work had come loose. I think I've got about 32 "stapled" stitches.I didn't have to pay anything six years ago and I don't have to pay anything now. I shudder to think of what could've happened to me in the States. I was paying $250 a month there for some HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) and my company was paying at least another $50. What's worse than that is the fact that they refused to send me to an ear, nose and throat specialist even though I was foaming at the mouth, and instead they put me on three months of antibiotics.

When I got here, the first thing I did was get sent to that specialist, who then sent me to an allergist, who then diagnosed an allergy to dust and pollen (three years of shots for the former). I just can't imagine what we'd do here with private health care like back in the States (though Sanitas works great here). I won't go deep into it, but for 225 euros a month ("autónomos" pay this amount to the government monthly.) you get a lot more than just fantastic health care and I really do think it's fantastic. I don't know about other Hospitals around here, but the one in Alcorcón (20 minutes South of Madrid by train) is absolutely the best!!! I can tell you from personal experience that these guys and girls are some real pros. My 2 year-old boy was born there and I was there the whole time. Also, I was awake for the whole operation on Tuesday (epidural anesthesia) and I was really impressed. I can also tell you that I think that whatever you pay as an "autónomo" is worth it and moreso if you have a family to take care of. I really cannot understand people who think otherwise ...
Post recovered from hacked forum. March 26, 2005. 

An article in the Telegraph Learning by painful experience in Spain

Some recommended specialists

Part of the problem when you want to find a doctor of any kind is knowing who to trust. In my experience, I've come across both competent and incompetent doctors and you will have too. The following is a list that I've been building for quite some time of doctors and other health-related specialists that people, mostly fellow teachers and students, have recommended to me. I think they're probably very good, but I can't be 100% sure, of course (that's my disclaimer).

Traumatologist
Dr. Concejero
Clinica Centro Mirasierra at Herrera Horia (near Clinica Ruber and the M40). He's a traumatologist for the Atletico de Madrid soccer club.

Traumatologist
Francisco Javier Marquez Dorsch
Centro Medico Nicasio Gallego. Nicasio Gallego 8-10, bajo
902200288.

Osteopath (Like a physiotherapist)
Franck Maze (He's French.)
A professor from Complutense University at Infanta Mercedes (Bernabeu area). 50 euros. 915792228

Massage: Quiromasaje y Reflexologia Podal
Javier Cañellas
Estudios completos de quiromasaje según la técnica del Dr. Ferrandiz y reflexología especializada antiestrés y relajación. Exclusivamente a domicilio sesion de 70 minutos todo tipo de problemas musculares, circulatoreos, sistema linfático, estrés ansiedad, celulitis y otros 35 euros por sesión!! Bonos de 10 sesiones por 290 Euros.
647 59 68 21

A recent story in the Telegraph

According to the Telegraph, British expats in Spain are getting scammed sometimes when they go to a clinic. Read more: Tourists Fleeced by Foreign clinics.