Getting registered for Spanish health insurance

Bumps in the process

Of course, it would not be our life if things only went completely smooth and according to plan, lol. In this case, I had to wait 3 full days for the risk assessment of the private health insurance, who were supposed to call me by the way, but I only received a written statement last week.

I was honest filling in a past knee surgery (in my teen years!) as well as the squinting eye of our daughter because this is something that may need medical attention at some point while at this point the only thing we use is eye stickers. We were planning on picking up these things after arrival here because the Hungarian system had a LONG waiting list even before the pandemic for her ear problems taking it over the next summer before they could help here, I already knew with this it was going to be an even worse nightmare because of the pandemic. Long waiting lists were even more common now and therefore knowing we'd be here in the summer, it made sense to postpone this a bit.

I do regret it a little that I haven't been firmer in this decision because it could have saved us some monthly costs and headache now. But alas, it is what it is, deal with it and move on, right?

Private health insurance

Although we know the Spanish health care system is fine, I walked some routes in the past after I fell down the stairs, we prefer using private care to save long hours of waiting as well as easier communication in English. Although back then I managed just fine in Spanish, some medical things are just better if you can also hear the doctor tell them in English, to make sure there are no misunderstandings. At least for a while until I speak Spanish fluently. On top of that the waiting times are also less and therefore it saves time and with that money as you don't have to get half a day off at least for whatever appointment you need to go to.

I registered us for private health insurance and when I decided which one was the best for us, I had to wait three days until they came back with the risk assessment. Although they said they were going to call me, and I was on top of my phone with sound on all three days, it was several days ago when I received a written statement where they said they will have exclusions for both me and my daughter. I don't have an issue with mine, but I do have an issue with paying a fee for my daughter and then having the eye squint excluded, to be honest.

The little lady hasn't been to the doctor for a long time

I think paying this fee while the eye is excluded is a bit much, but at this point, I honestly want to get it over with and know that we are insured because currently our European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is the only valid thing we carry and I fear that if we were to need care before this one is valid, they send us a bill for that lol. I have no clue if that's possible, but I want to avoid it at all costs.

What now?

I realized that as an entrepreneur, my boyfriend will need to pay social security tax, meaning he can apply for the "seguridad social" aka the state health insurance and with that our daughter can also be insured) I believe for free (our daughter, not him). This will at least solve the issue of not being able to get care for her squinting eye, we can go public for that.

Not my favorite activity, as these long waits are horrible and I can't even imagine how shit it must be now with the covid rules, it must add to the stress of wearing these masks in the bloody hot hospitals for hours. BUT what needs to be done, just needs to be done, and I will just have to deal with it.

I tried asking questions

To have a few things straight and I could not even respond to their email, which annoys me honestly. If you say you're going to call me, then call me! Don't just send me a written statement full of spelling errors in our names and then give me no option to respond or ask something.

After the usual feeling of being set back a bit, having to dig again for other options, I decided that we best just take the deal with exclusions, sit it out this year, and see by the time the year ends if we want to switch to something else or not. I don't have any better options now and I'm also ready to move on from the topic as more things need to be arranged that actually are a priority.

Meanwhile

We can take it easy on arranging public health insurance and not worry about that needing to be done in a week or so, these visits may become a true nightmare depending on who sits in front of you, and if their mood is ok that day, but at least we then have the private insurance already valid and even though it's a high fee to pay, it will also bring us some relief and less stress compared with tiny things going through the public insurance.

Also, they didn't exclude anything about her ears which I also mentioned honestly, and currently we're noticing she hears less again, so another treatment for this may be needed. At least we don't have to worry about doing that in the public system.

I also had some luck with the risk assessment

As they asked about the past 5 years of medical help, and therefore my fall from the stairs in Spain, was just outside of the timeframe that I needed to declare. As I haven't had surgery for that issue, just physiotherapy as well as medication, and in the past years in Budapest I've never had the need to visit a doctor for it, I didn't need to declare this where they asked about former surgeries. Oof, that's some luck! I'm very happy that at least that was not an exclusion especially knowing that it came flaring up again before departure (I didn't visit any doctor, I walked it out so the speak).

Another luck is that I do have some more knee pains while walking up and downhill every day, but thankfully for me, it's the one that hasn't had surgery lol. Of course, I hope that I will never need medical help for that. But we're making jokes about it constantly, is that your insured knee or the other, haha. The knee surgery I had was not a big one by the way, but I didn't mention it exactly, it was only a surgery to restore cartilage. I think that if something else happens with the knee, I could dispute them excluding that as it's not directly related, so in the end it's probably not that bad anyway.

The final steps aren't going smooth either

I've been emailing back and forward with the broker because their response email said they sent me a text with a code when I accept the exclusions or I can decline the insurance fully. I first thought that maybe I needed to press the button and then receive a text, which wasn't the case.

I let the broker know please let them check the land code as they may just be blind to the fact there's a Hungarian code there, assuming it's Spanish. But it was correct in the system, nevertheless, she let them know as well as my new Spanish sim just in case.

Today I received 3 of the same emails from them to confirm, and again no text. Sigh. Technology is great, when it doesn't fail, haha. She is now filing a complaint, the poor girl has been so helpful and I feel bad for having to bother her daily about things while she just gets a one time bonus probably for signing us up. But on the other hand, that's not my fault and they should fix whatever goes wrong.

I hope that by the end of today, we can say this step is behind us. Fingers crossed, as it will probably be manana or the day after manana, according to good Spanish customs.

Previous parts of The Expat Diaries

• The ATM swallowed my bank card
• The beginning of our new life in Spain - First AirBnB
• Wednesday Walk leading to a park, tapas & a sunburn
• Bus trip along the south coast of Spain
• Brand-new apartment house visit, is this the one?
• Our first house visit - the good, the bad & the ugly
• An early morning walk and breakfast with my tiny human
• Internet so slow that it should be illegal
• Food with a view - First homecooked meal in Spain
• Groceries in Spain vs Budapest
• The beach near us - Just touched the water once
• Holiday Inn Malaga - Food Approved!)
• Bienvenidos a Málaga! - Welcome in Málaga!)
• The smoothest security process ever - Our flight to Spain
• Our final day in Budapest
• The final countdown - It will never fit!
• The sound of an almost empty home
• Narrowing down our life to 5 suitcases
• When the universe aligns everything perfectly
• Catching up and saying goodbyes
• We're closing the kindergarten chapter sooner than expected
• Finding a place to live in Spain
• The countdown is real - The last times in Budapest
• Our life in 6 suitcases - sorting, selling & giving away our belongings
• Moving back to Spain very soon!

Credits

• The header image is from Canva Pro

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