🇪🇸 Spain · Healthcare
How the Spain healthcare system works — public vs private care, eligibility, and costs for residents and visitors.
Spain has a public National Health System (Sistema Nacional de Salud, SNS), managed by the 17 autonomous communities, that covers residents who contribute to the social-security system (through work, self-employment or as dependants). Those not covered — for example non-lucrative or student visa holders — generally need private health insurance, or can join the public system via the Convenio Especial (a paid scheme).
- The public SNS covers residents who contribute to social security; it is run by the autonomous communities.
- Non-lucrative and student visa holders generally need private health insurance.
- The Convenio Especial lets non-contributing residents join the public system for a monthly fee.
Official authorities
- Ministry of Health (sanidad.gob.es)
Official national health authority.
Official-information aggregation, not legal advice. Always verify on the authority's own site.