🇵🇹 Portugal · Healthcare
How the Portugal healthcare system works — public vs private care, eligibility, and costs for residents and visitors.
Portugal has a public National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde, SNS) that covers legal residents, with mostly free or low-cost care. Once you are a legal resident (registered and, where applicable, contributing to social security), you can register with your local health centre for an SNS user number. Some visa applicants must show private health insurance until covered.
- The public SNS covers legal residents with mostly free or low-cost care.
- Register with your local health centre for an SNS user number once you are a legal resident.
- Some visa applicants must show private health insurance until covered by the SNS.
Official authorities
- Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS)
Official national health service.
Official-information aggregation, not legal advice. Always verify on the authority's own site.