
Can you go to a private doctor without insurance?
The answer is yes, even if you do not have private health insurance, it is possible to go to doctors, health centers, clinics and private hospitals that admit this possibility.
The offer of access to health and medical care in Spain is wide and plural, allowing you to choose according to the needs, preferences and situations of each person.
Private healthcare is not synonymous with being insured with a medical policy. People who do not have private health insurance can also access private centers and their professionals.
There is a wide variety of alternatives so that each citizen can choose at any time which doctor they want or prefer to go to.
With regard to access to healthcare – both public and private – it is important not to get carried away by false beliefs or outdated information about access to private healthcare, which is now even more simple, flexible and comfortable for anyone, with or Uninsured.
If you wonder which private doctors I can go to without health insurance or what advantages you have if you are a client of an insurance company, we have all the information you need so that you have no doubts about how and in what situations you can -or not- see a doctor private.
Private Healthcare: All types and conditions of use
Mixed centers and services: insured and private
There is a great variety of centers with health services: radiodiagnosis centers, hospitals, privately owned dental clinics…. To which both people with medical insurance who have a concert with it and people without insurance can go. The difference is in the form of payment and it is also usually in the price paid by each user profile.
Mixed centers usually have prices for the general public and other types of rates or payment alternatives for the insured who have this benefit in their insurance.
The staff and facilities, as well as the services, as a general rule, are the same and are available both to uninsured people who pay their bills personally and to policyholders who enjoy the rate and payment method agreed with their insurer.
This type of assistance is common in small places or with little healthcare offer where insurers do not have their own resources and take advantage of those that exist, usually sharing them with other companies and with private clients.
Exclusive insurance centers
For a long time, the large and main insurers have been growing and endowing themselves with their own health resources, especially in large cities and where the largest number of insured is concentrated. Many of these places only serve their policyholders exclusively and under the particular conditions agreed in their policy.
Centers owned by an insurance company, but which admit individuals
This type of medical center is becoming more common every day, especially in the health sector related to specialists such as dentists.
The clinic or hospital belongs to a certain insurance company, but it is not for the exclusive use of its clients, rather it reserves a percentage of places, appointments… for people who are not their own insured, but who attend privately.
In the case of insurance centers, it is easy for the company’s clients to have certain advantages such as preference on the waiting list and, of course, better rates, but there is no total exclusivity. In the case of hospitals, you can find services open to people with and without insurance, but others reserved only for clients.
Private medical centers
There are health resources that are totally private, they do not have agreements or concerts with companies, they have a single price and care list.
The patient, regardless of their insurer or if they do not have one, can access this health care by paying the rates provided by the center or the liberal doctor who practices his profession in a particular way, is not contracted with any insurer or has private agreements with them.
The patient of a private health resource has to personally pay her bills or access the financing offered by the place.
However, there is the possibility, through the reimbursement modality, that an insurer will finally pay for this care, but the insured with this type of insurance and this reimbursement coverage generally has to advance the money and then, process the invoices and claim them from your insurer.
It is a very popular and highly demanded modality, when patients have regular doctors who do not want to leave to get a specific insurance, for example.
What are the advantages of contracting health insurance to enjoy private healthcare?
As has become clear, access to private healthcare in itself is not the great advantage of having health insurance because there is the possibility of access without having a current policy.
Although it is true that there are insurers with their own doctors and centers, totally exclusive to their insured, there are other possibilities for those who want to access public health without insurance.
There are more than 10 million people who are holders of medical insurance in Spain and given that access to private healthcare is not exclusive to them, it is clear that there are other important attractions that lead citizens to take out health insurance.
Economic savings
Consumers and figures from the sector confirm that accessing private healthcare is always cheaper, if it is done through private insurance. In each case this saving may be minimal, but in the cases of chronic or prolonged treatments or illnesses it may be a high percentage.
The same occurs in the case of families with children who prefer or need particular health care, if they take out medical insurance for this, it is confirmed that they will save.
Even in the case of medical services that may not be fully covered in a policy, the price is more adjusted, if you are insured, because generally, companies include bonuses, discounts and special prices with respect to the usual price.
Ease of procedures and location
Access to the doctors and health centers arranged with the different insurers or those belonging to the company is much easier, if you do it as a private health insurance holder.
Insurance clients have exclusive access to specialized medical directory guides, lists, online appointments or information platform and management of consultations, tests, payments …
Finding a doctor without references, without knowing the sector… both in a big city and in a smaller place that you may know little or when you are there temporarily, on vacation, for work… It is complicated and sometimes it is a great burden, However, when you are part of an insurance company, all these procedures are simple, comfortable and very fast; even when assistance is urgently needed.
Waiting time is shortened
One of the most common complaints among patients, especially those in the public health system, is the waiting time, especially in specialist consultations or surgical interventions.
Policyholders confirm and agree by pointing to the waiting lists as one of the most important reasons for taking out a medical policy and thus avoiding them or minimizing the waiting time for any health intervention.
With a health policy you have access to a complete and numerous medical staff that makes the waiting time to go to a consultation or to take a test minimal. Insurers are constantly improving and increasing the quantity and quality of their medical services to offer the best and fastest services to their clients.
Additional and complementary services
Today medical insurance is very complete and versatile. Every day insurers design new products to respond to the needs of their clients, managing to retain their policyholders and attract new clients.
Medical services are not the only claim of many health policies that complete their advantages with services in other fields such as leisure, beauty treatments or significant discounts in other sectors or parallel services.
Custom policies
Insurers now offer fully flexible medical policies so that the client pays only for what they need and add or subtract benefits to be able to adapt the premium to the maximum. The forms of payment are adaptable, the number of holders, the breadth of their coverage or the geographical scope of the same.
Today, the insured pays for what they need to guarantee security and peace of mind, whether they are looking for comprehensive medical insurance or if they only want to cover emergency situations or do not want to have hospitalization services.
It is also possible to contract policies with co-payments, reimbursements or without them, as the holder prefers.
Being the holder of a medical policy in a personal capacity, as a family or through the company where you work is a growing trend that is constantly growing, according to data from the sector, which confirms that every day there are more citizens than they decide to have a medical policy to have access to private healthcare, although it is not always a necessary condition to go to doctors or private healthcare resources.
To get a good medical policy, we recommend that you take a look at the selection of the best health insurance on the market.
If you are interested in a specific doctor or hospital, for example, it is best to find out at the center or in the consultation because there are usually different resources and ways of access, more and more, to adapt to all needs.
Likewise, if you are the holder of a health insurance or want to be, consult all your doubts and know all the modalities to be able to go to the doctors that you prefer or need.