Health Insurance For Expats In Spain

The Best Health Insurance For Expatriates Living In Spain

Posted by Greg Jones on January 24, 2020

If you've searched Google for private medical insurance that covers expats in Spain then you are probably for looking for trusted UK based health insurance companies that will cover your medical costs in Spain.

Living as an expatriate in Spain you want to avoid any unwanted and unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious medical conditions.

Our advice when looking for health insurance that covers expatriates living in Spain is to speak to a health insurance broker. Health insurance is very complex and if you want absolute certainty that Spain is covered by your policy you should talk with a broker who can explain which providers will cover medical costs for expatriates in Spain and which will not.

There are many advantages to using a broker but the largest by far is that you're using their industry experience at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than by you so it costs you no extra to use their brokering services.

  • Do you reside in many different postcodes? Some will give you a cheaper premium than offers. A broker will be able to advise whats best.
  • Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance policy? A broker will know this critical information.
  • If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different policies?
  • You've developed a certain medical condition and want to know which policy provider offers the largest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.

You can call around every health insurance provider you can find and ask if they provider cover for expats in Spain, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.

Its much quicker to speak to one medical insurance broker which will know which providers on the market offer cover for expats in Spain and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.

Spain Information

Tourism in Spain is the third major contributor to national economic life after the industrial and the business/banking sectors, contributing about 10–11% of Spain's GDP. Ever since the 1960s and 1970s, the country has been a popular destination for summer holidays, especially with large numbers of tourists from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux, and the United States, among others. Accordingly, Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second-biggest in the world.

In 2019, Spain was the second most visited country in the world, recording 83.7 million tourists which marked the seventh consecutive year of record-beating numbers. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in the first eleven months of year 2020 only 18.3 million tourists visited Spain. These dramatic figures are devastating for the tourism sector and are a reflection of what will be the worst year for this industry in terms of income ever recorded.

Spain ranks first among 140 countries in the biannual Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum in 2019, matching the top position already achieved in 2017 and 2015.

Tourists also arrive in Spain by road, rail and over the water. Spanish freeways interconnecting the touristic cities are also linked with the French freeway network across the Pyrenees. The main train operator is RENFE, including AVE (Spanish high speed train) or Talgo intercity services. Spain's high-speed rail link is the largest in Europe and second largest in the world after China. There is also a number of high-end tourism oriented hotel-train services, such as Transcantábrico.

This type of tourism was the first to be developed in Spain, and today, generates the most income for the Spanish economy. The mild climate during the whole year and the extensive sandy beaches of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean as well as of its two archipelagoes (the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands respectively) have been attracting tourists from Northern Europe for decades. The leading source markets of Spanish beach tourism are the UK (around 24% of the total arrivals in Spain in recent years), Germany and France (around 15-16% each), followed by Scandinavia and Italy (around 7% each) and the Netherlands (around 5%).

Spain's two archipelagoes, the Balearic Islands off the mainland coast in the Mediterranean and the volcanic Canary Islands in the Atlantic, are also both very popular destinations with Spaniards and Europeans.

In addition to the summer tourism, other modalities like cultural and monumental tourism congresses, sport or fun tourism have been developed in these areas, including such famous cities as Barcelona and Valencia, the biggest harbours of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

Many coastal or island places also have great ecological and natural importance. Theme Parks like Terra Mítica, Tibidabo Amusement Park, Tivoli World and the resort PortAventura World or diverse water-fun parks are also popular.

In 2014 Spain broke its own record of blue flag beaches, achieving 681 flags and becoming the leader in the Northern Hemisphere. Spain is also the leader in blue flags for marinas.