Doctors and illness

[laserblazer]

How do those of you who live in Portugal permanently and semi-permanently handle health issues? Do you have medical insurance?

[biffa]

Ideally - yes!

[Ma-Ja's]

We don't have any medical insurance. We are registered with a doctor at the Centre de Saude in Lagoa and this is where we go if we need to see a doctor. We pay 2.20 euros each time we see him and have never had a problem. In fact, Mark had to have a CT scan in Faro recently and when we rang up to book we were expecting to have to wait a few months for an appointment but we were offered one the next week! We paid 18 euros + 2 euros for them to send the scans to our home address, which we received 5 days after the scan. We have never had to use the Portimao hospital, but have only ever heard great reports about it from people who have had cause to visit it. So from our experience you don't need to have medical insurance in Portugal, however we are residents and that does make a difference.