mmecholet

Hi all,

I have been reading a lot of information but still not sure.

From what I understand, once you get your residency status, you can register at the local doctor.

For specialist, is it worth taking a private insurance? And how much would that cost for a family with 2 adults and 2 kids?

Same for dental, how does it work? My oldest daughter who is 9 will have to be followed by an orthodontist as her teeth ar all over the place. Could anybody give me some information as to how it works in Portugal?

And glasses or lenses, same questions really...

Thanks for all your help.

Loafing Along

Best deal for Expats seems to be through Afpop , ( Medal Insurance in Almancil and also Portimao ) you join the association and get medical insurance via Allianz. There is a dental insurance option. Most Portuguese medical insurance seems to cut off at 60 years the Afpop deal has no upper age limit.

gedscottish

Health insurance is a nice luxury but certainly not a must have. More expensive policies with cover dental to a limit but they are indeed pretty limited. Price wise a very much depends on age. If you want, pm your ages and I’ll give you a price so you have an idea what you’re looking at.

Diddion

Not quite. Afpop deal, which is highly competitive, has an upper age of 70 for application. But once you have it, you can continue with no age limit.

mmecholet

thanks a lot, we are in our 40s and kids are still young (9 and 6). We are just trying to find out if this would be necessary for dental end glasses.

gedscottish

If you want dental and and glasses it quite hefty per month, you're talking 155€, you'll get a great health cover for around 100€ per month if you forget the dental and glasses. I'm not convinced it justified to pay an extra 600€ a year for that and if that's your main concern I don't think I would bother with health insurance at all.

Ukkram

We have dumped our private health insurance and gone for state health. I paid €12.50 every second month for BP medication script at the private hospital.
Now I pay €2,50 and get the same medication.

Our minds were made up with our previous medical emergency where we found the equipment at the state hospital such as X - Ray and CAT scan machinery was way more modern than our local Hospital Particular.

The staff were superb to a degree where we felt uneasy because we were assisted ahead of the locals. Perhaps they wanted to practice English or show us foreigners how well the PT state hospitals work.

ricko

As regards glasses, as eye tests are recommended every two years, would it not be good value to take a family holiday in the UK every other year, and have eye tests and buy glasses if there is a change in prescription?

mmecholet

Thanks everyone. Does anybody know how much it would cost for orthodontic treatment as my daughter will really need to be followed by a specialist?