Portugal Healthcare Ranking in 2026

Health insurance in Portugal: private and public care

The roots of the modern Portuguese healthcare system go back to 1979, when the Portuguese National Health Service, Serviço Nacional de Saúde or SNS, was established. Then, it was intended that the system would be a single-payer one, but private insurers appeared promptly, which formed the private-public healthcare system in Portugal.

Find out everything about the D7 visa: costs and obtaining process

The SNS coexists with two other systems: the health subsystems, special health insurance schemes that provide coverage for particular professions or sectors, such as the schemes for civil servants and the banking sector, and private voluntary health insurance (VHI) schemes. VHI has a supplementary role, facilitating access to private hospital treatment and ambulatory consultations.

So, the health insurance system in Portugal is half public and half private. Most of the population is registered for public insurance in the SNS, but a quarter of citizens are covered with private voluntary health insurance.

Public health insurance is free of charge as it is financed through taxation. It is available to all citizens and legal residents of Portugal, regardless of nationality. Universal health coverage includes all medical procedures and treatments, except cosmetic surgeries or dental care.

Prescribed medicines are also covered by public health insurance. It allows citizens and residents to obtain the medications for free or with a small co-payment. Individuals may also be charged small fees for certain services, typically from €5 to €10.

Private health insurance requires a monthly payment and a co-payment fee for each medical procedure. There are two forms of private health insurance in Portugal: health insurance (Seguro de Saude) and health plans (Plano de Saude).

Health insurance provides the patient with a certain amount of medical services from a chain of hospitals that the insurance company owns. The price of the insurance policy depends on several factors, among which are the client’s age, medical history, and chosen package of services.

Private health insurance covers hospitalisation and surgeries. In basic packages, consultations and examinations come with co-payments. The price of a basic package is €15-20 per month. The minimal coverage of such a policy is €15,000.

Extended packages can include extra services, such as dental care or other medical services, depending on the insured’s wishes. These packages can cost from €30 to €100 monthly and cover €500,000 in medical expenses.

Health plans provide the insured with discounts on the services of private clinics of a particular chain and work like a loyalty card. More often, health plans give clients discounts on consultations and examinations. Hospitalisation and surgeries are not included in the health plans as a rule. A monthly health plan starts from €5 and can reach €40.

Portugal travel insurance requirements

To obtain a tourist visa for a short trip to Portugal, one must pay for travel medical insurance, covering emergency medical, hospitalisation, and repatriation. The minimum coverage of the insurance must be not less than €30,000 coverage. The policy must be valid in the Schengen Area and during the whole stay in Portugal.

The travellers can acquire an insurance policy in their home country or Portugal. An average travel insurance, covering all the necessary medical expenses, will cost about €22 per week, €40 per fortnight and €70 per month.

Portugal Visa applicants and health insurance requirements

There are several visa options for those who want to reside in Portugal:

• Portugal D7 Visa;
• Digital Nomad Visa;
• Highly Qualified Activity (HQA) Visa.

All these types of visas have the exact requirements for insurance. When the applicants get approval from the consulate, they get a short-term visa to Portugal to obtain a residence permit. For this short-term stay in the country, they need travel insurance. Still, when they get a residency and contribute to the Social Security Fund, they can access SNS and acquire a public insurance policy.

Emergency medical services in Portugal

The emergency number in Portugal is 112. By dialling this number in case of emergency, a person calls Medical Emergency Centres — Centros de Orientação de Doentes Urgentes, CODU. They send ambulances, paramedics or fire brigades, depending on the case.

According to the National Institute of Medical Emergency, the average time for sending relief in urgent or critical situations is one to three minutes.

Healthcare in Portugal for expats

Those expats in Portugal who have a residence card and contribute to the Social Security Fund have the same access to the SNS as the citizens of Portugal. The country’s health policy even guarantees that foreigners, whose regularisation processes are pending, can obtain an SNS user number and access public health services.

The other option for expats in Portugal is to buy private health insurance or a health plan if they need extra coverage apart from the services provided by SNS. There are different types of insurance for expats offered by various companies. The cost of each package depends on one’s personal needs.

Everything you need to know about insurance in Portugal

Those who legally reside in Portugal get access to the Portugal healthcare system on the same conditions as the citizens: most medical expenditures are covered with public health insurance, but still, there are out-of-pocket payments.

Individual cost calculation for the Portugal Passive Income D7 Visa

Get the cost calculation

Portugal’s healthcare system for women. Pregnancy and childbirth

The SNS public health insurance covers maternity and childcare services. Medical care for pregnant women is free of charge in public institutions.

Usually, a pregnant woman is registered with the clinic in her area. To get a consultation with a gynaecologist, a woman must get a referral from a family doctor. During the first visit, an expectant mother is given a pregnancy book — Boletim de Saúde da Grávida. Most pregnant women choose to give birth in hospitals. During and after childbirth, they can use the services of doulas, who help with the child and provide emotional support to mothers.

There is a wide choice of prenatal classes for future mothers, such as yoga or gymnastics. But these classes usually require payment.

Children’s healthcare in Portugal

Portugal offers free healthcare for children. When the child is born in Portugal, it is automatically enrolled in SNS and assigned a family doctor. The same happens with the official residents’ children, with a slight difference: the parents must register their offspring in SNS. The documents for doing it are:

• Social Security number;
• passport or national ID;
• Portuguese residence permit.

Unlike adults in Portugal, children can receive free dental care. A dentist examines children at school and refers them to further treatment if necessary. Children under 6 can receive a dental certificate from their family doctor.

Mental care in Portugal

The SNS provides basic mental health assistance. In case psychiatric or psychotherapist help is needed, one visits a family doctor who can do the following:

• prescribe medicines;
• refer a patient to a specialist;
• refer a patient to a psychiatric unit or an emergency if the case is urgent;
• refer a person to a community-based program.

The National Plan for Mental Health, adopted in 2016, sets out ways to ensure everyone has good mental health and help people with mental illnesses. It creates a system where different healthcare and social services work together. This plan aims to ensure that mental health services are easy to access, that problems are identified early, and that the care provided is high quality.

Dental care in Portugal

Public health insurance doesn’t cover dental care. Still, the National Programme for the Promotion of Oral Health (PNPSO) provides medical-dental care to especially vulnerable groups, who are eligible to receive this medical service free of charge:

• pregnant women registered in SNS;
• beneficiaries of the Solidarity Supplement program;
• children and young people up to the age of 18, regardless of the school or institution they attend;
• clients with HIV/AIDS;
• clients with suspected lesions of oral cancer.

The SNS issues dental vouchers (cheques-dentista) to cover the costs of the listed categories of citizens and residents. However, they may limit the sum per year.

All the rest have to pay for dentistry. The initial appointment at a public health centre costs about €7, and the price of the whole treatment is individual.

As for private dental centres, the price also depends on the kind of service one needs. Examination, diagnosis and treatment plan cost about €30, urgency appointment — €40, teeth whitening — €170. However, people often acquire extended private health insurance, including dental care coverage or dental care insurance that costs around €80-200 per year.

Individual cost calculation for the Portugal Digital Nomad Visa

Get the cost calculation

Pros and cons of the healthcare system in Portugal

When evaluating the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the system, its advantages and disadvantages should be acknowledged and considered. Portuguese and expatriates point to the following benefits of the local healthcare system:

1. Developed infrastructure. According to the 2022 World Index of Healthcare Innovation, Portugal’s healthcare system has developed infrastructure, ranked 3rd among the 32 countries. The country has enough medical personnel and physical resources to meet the population’s needs.
2. Good quality of service. The whole healthcare system of the country plays its primary role in preventing diseases, curing them, and restoring human function. Portugal has high cancer survival rates, occupying the 22nd line in the Cancer Survival Rates by Country, which includes 58 states. Mortality from preventable and treatable causes is lower in Portugal than the EU average.
3. Patient-centred care. Patients in Portugal are satisfied with the system’s transparency and consultation time and feel safe.
4. Access to new medical technologies. Portugal is on the 14th line of ranking here. New medicines, generics, and biosimilars are available in the Portuguese pharmaceutical market.
5. Freedom to choose healthcare services. As private insurance is quite affordable in Portugal, the Portuguese and expats have a range of providers and private clinic chains.

However, like everywhere else, the Portuguese healthcare system also has its drawbacks:

1. Long waiting times. According to the “Portuguese and Health in the post-pandemic” study, prepared by the Health Observatory of the European University, 30.2% of respondents have been waiting for more than three months for their medical appointments. 
2. Out-of-pocket spending is above the EU average. Overall, Portugal has one of the highest shares of co-payments among EU countries, accounting for 30 % of total health expenditure, double the EU average.

The best hospitals and clinics in Portugal

The best clinics and hospitals in Portugal are situated in Lisbon and Porto. The Ranking Web of World Hospitals includes 63 Portuguese hospitals in a world ranking in the following way:

The ranking includes 63 hospitals, two of which are among the 400 best hospitals in the world.

Conclusions

1. To access Portugal's healthcare system, one must be a citizen or a country resident and contribute to the Social Security Fund.
2. Children under 18, pregnant women, senior citizens, and some other categories of people have free access to medical care in Portugal.
3. Still, healthcare in Portugal is affordable. The minimum price of a private insurance policy is €15 per month.
4. Children and other vulnerable categories of people can have dental care free of charge due to the National Programme for the Promotion of Oral Health (PNPSO).
5. In Portugal, the average time for sending relief in an emergency is one to three minutes.

Frequently asked questions