USEFUL TIPS FOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE - PART 1
We notice that, in general, people often do not know what the options are within private health insurance and how it works. Since it is arranged differently out of Spain, it sometimes takes a while. That is why from now on we will deal with 1 or 2 questions in our blog.
Do I need a referral from the General Practitioner to see a specialist doctor?
The answer to this is no. You do need to go to a general practitioner via public healthcare, but for private healthcare you can immediately make an appointment with the relevant specialist. After a routine check the local physician will compiles an examination and / or treatment plan. For physiotherapy, for example, you need a referral from a traumatologist. For some examinations and treatments, an authorization is requested, which must be issued by the insurer. You can request this yourself, or we can do this for you. It is important that you receive a medical report with every visit to the specialist. This is provided by default at most clinics, but if this is not the case, you can request it.
The obligation for an authorization is often seen as that the insurer wants to check the customer. This is often the case at the beginning of the term of a policy, to ensure that it is not an existing condition. However, the authorizations are mainly requested to check the doctors or clinics, to see if the requested examinations or treatments are in line with what the doctor has observed. This may sound a bit strange, but ultimately it is about private companies and the more research and the like they do, the more they earn. Outside of Spain, this will be no different, but there this goes directly between the healthcare insurance company and the health insurer and you as a patient will not receive anything from this.
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