An Introduction to Health Care in Portugal for Expats

If you are moving to Portugal to live and work or even just to retire or stay for a short period of time you should familiarize your self with the health care that is available within Portugal. Depending on where you are coming from you may find the quality of health care in Portugal below the standards that you are used to receiving, specifically if you are from the United States or northern Europe. That is not to say the the health care in Portugal is bad, because it is not. Typically you will find health care in Portugal to be good, but that was not always the case as their have been many improvements in recent years.

You will not have to worry if you do not speak Portuguese as you will be able to fin doctors that speak English, as well as other foreign doctors, in any of the major cities or popular tourist destinations. Be warned however that you might not be able to do so in rural areas. You should also know that hospitals are hard to find in the rural areas of Portugal.

You will find both public health care facilities and private health care facilities in Portugal. In the more rural areas you will be more likely to find private health care facilities though.

Portugal does have a public health care system that provide health care to those that contribute to Portuguese social security at a low or no cost per service. Families of those that have contributed to Portuguese social security and retirees are also eligible for the low cost or free health care services. For those over the age of 65 there are also subsidized prescriptions. If you do not qualify for the public health system you will need private health insurance. If you are just visiting Portugal on a holiday you should have holiday health insurance. You should also note that there are British hospitals in Lisbon and Porto.