After 10 years, I am still regularly shocked at the very low cost of medical care and medications in Spain compared to California when I moved from there at the age of 57 ten years ago. In Spain, the quality, availability and ease of getting treatment without a referral by another doctor or authorization has always been easy. My initial annual policy required for a Spanish residency visa, here in Altea on the beautiful Costa Blanca, was about 1100 Euros (approximately $1000) with no deductible, and no co-pay. About three years ago, I had a serious accident, eventually requiring almost three months of hospitalization in Intensive Care. The insurance paid 100% of all my medical care in the hospital including specialist treatments. After discharge from the hospital, I developed a toe sore that was not healing, so I stopped into the local treatment location, which are accessible no matter where your primary treatment is. I was quickly seen by a nurse, who looked concerned, and brought in a physician to consult. They had me return every two to three days to clean, treat, and wrap the wound until adequately healed: easy, excellent care at no additional cost to me.
One important caveat: when someone with good private medical insurance has a medical problem, that person may be admitted to a hospital whereas someone with the same condition with Spain’s public health care coverage may not. Similarly, if someone with good private insurance is hospitalized, many people believe the patient may be kept longer than necessary in the hospital and may have unneeded medical tests or procedures. When people ask about how long a person’s stay in the hospital was, often the first question is if the person has private insurance.
My annual policy costs have increased an average of 100 Euros a year, and now is at 2000 Euros for a year. I seldom need prescription medications, but both prescription and non-prescription medications are surprisingly cheap here: I seldom pay over 10 Euros for any of them. However, not all medications available in the U.S. are available in Spain, and vice versa. Cost, quality of care, and treatment outcomes are far better here in Spain and many other countries, without the angst of worrying whether you can get needed treatment. As a statistician, it is clear to me that the costs of medical treatment and medications in the United States is unnecessarily increased because of the many hands in this lucrative pot.
Starr Treks 