Anyone know what the cost of an X-'Ray at Hospital Velez

[Dunflittin68]

Hi there

My husband was admitted to Velez Hospital last Tuesday as an emergency with Legionnaire's Disease and pheumonia (he collapsed whilst waiting in A & E) and they accepted our EHIC card when we arrived. He has just been discharged but the doctor has recommended another visit to a doctor in a week for a chest examination and an X-Ray in a month to check his lungs are clear before we fly home on October 12th. I am taking it that the follow up X-Ray and doctor's appointment will not be covered by the EHIC but I am wondering what the cost will be of the X-Ray.

Does anyone know ?

[Free at Last]

I think it will be covered by the EHIC. A couple of years ago I went to A&E with a friend to translate for them as her daughter had broken her arm whilst on holiday here. After the fracture was x-rayed, aligned and plastered initially, we went back for two follow-up appointments when further x-rays were taken and at the last one she was given a copy of the x-rays on a CD to take back to the fracture clinic in the UK. All of it was covered by the EHIC.

[Dunflittin68]

That's great ! Thanks. We have to go to a doctor first for the chest examination, is that covered too?

[Stevemul]

All will be covered by the EHIC card.
If the Brexiteers had realised what a valuable piece of plastic the EHIC card is, no one would have voted to leave!

[Free at Last]

That's great ! Thanks. We have to go to a doctor first for the chest examination, is that covered too?

Yes, as far as I know the EHIC covers you for any treatment you need during the course of your holiday. If you go to a local health centre for the chest examination they may want to register your husband as a temporary patient, that's what they did at the Vélez Norte Centro de Salud for our friend's daughter. You will just need your passport and EHIC card.

I hope he's feeling much better now, what a scary thing to happen on your holiday.

[Len S]

I am sure vast majority would have still voted to leave. Both my wife and I would have.
The overwhelming majority of Brexiteers have no requirement for an EHIC card, and the the others, like my wife and I, would ensure that they have proper insurance in place, or would 'self insure'.

[Stevemul]

The EHIC card is "proper insurance" paid for by a lifetime of paying UK taxes.It also does not have pages of exclusions, annual premium increases and premium rate phone numbers to poor english speaking call centres!

[El Cid]

I am sure vast majority would have still voted to leave. Both my wife and I would have.
The overwhelming majority of Brexiteers have no requirement for an EHIC card, and the the others, like my wife and I, would ensure that they have proper insurance in place, or would 'self insure'.

True, but you are on a forum where the vast majority of expat members who live here would have voted to remain because of the 20% loss of income and potential loss of health cover.

Claiming to be a Brexiteer in the expat community is likely to get you lynched (figuratively of course!)

Sid

[Dunflittin68]

Free At Last - it was a scary thing to happen, you could have knocked us over when the doctor told us on the evening we went to visit him in the Observation Ward, that he had contracted Legionnaires Disease. We still do not know where he got it from, we have been racking our brains trying to think. Anyway he is on the mend now although he is very very tired. Velez Hospital is a good hospital but typically noisy day and night, he never got a wink of sleep for 6 days (although he remembers nothing of the first 2!), not helped by the wife of the patient in the next bed who managed to lock herself in the bathroom and was banging on the bathroom door in the middle of the night ! My husband had to get out of his sick bed to try to get her out.

[Dunflittin68]

All will be covered by the EHIC card.
If the Brexiteers had realised what a valuable piece of plastic the EHIC card is, no one would have voted to leave!

We had to pay the doctor on his first examination when he was taken ill and we will have to pay again when he returns next week for his examination again of his chest. Where do we get reimbursed from ?

[Enrique]

Hi Dunflittin68,
Some light reading.............

https://www.ukehic.com/if-i-have-to-pay ... -a-refund/

This bit ..................

"Before 1st July 2014, if you had to pay any money for healthcare treatment whilst visiting an EEA country or Switzerland, you could claim a European health insurance card refund when you got home.

Since then, however, whilst you can try to claim a refund for your bill when you are still abroad, you can no longer apply for an EHIC refund when you get back to the UK."

Some more info.............

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcare ... Spain.aspx

http://healthcareinspain.eu/visiting-spain/

[Free at Last]

All will be covered by the EHIC card.
If the Brexiteers had realised what a valuable piece of plastic the EHIC card is, no one would have voted to leave!

We had to pay the doctor on his first examination when he was taken ill and we will have to pay again when he returns next week for his examination again of his chest. Where do we get reimbursed from ?

Where did you see the doctor? Was it in a public health centre, or a private clinic?

[Dunflittin68]

I don't know whether she is private or not, we visited Medical Centre Mar Y Salud on Paseo Maritimo, in El Morche on someone's recommendation that she was very good and spoke very good English and she does.

[Wicksey]

Centro Mar y Salud is private. I use Dr Bernadette as we are not covered by the health service here and everything there is private.

For consultations covered by the EHIC you need to go to one of the local Centros de Salud, there is one in El Morche ...

http://www.centrosdesalud.net/centro-1075.html

... not sure where you are staying as to where the nearest one would be to you. They are equivalent to the GP doctor service on the NHS here.

I presume that the EHIC refund link above refers to payment for local NHS treatment and not if you have paid to see a private doctor? (In France for instance when I lived there we paid for treatment then claimed back a percentage through the national health system)

[IreneD]

Was it the hospital doctor who recommended further X-rays or Dr Veeger? Dr Veeger is a private doctor so you will have to pay, if so. If you are going back to the hospital for the X-ray, that should be covered by your EHIC card.

If you have travel insurance which includes health cover, I should think Dr Veeger would be able to provide you with what you need to claim back from your insurance company. You can't use your EHIC card for care from a private doctor.

[Dunflittin68]

Enrique, it appears any money you have to pay upfront is not refundable according to those links as they have changed the rules. So you only get treatment costs covered where your EHIC is accepted at hospital as clinics and doctors usually ask for payment on the visit.

[Dunflittin68]

Centro Mar y Salud is private. I use Dr Bernadette as we are not covered by the health service here and everything there is private.

For consultations covered by the EHIC you need to go to one of the local Centros de Salud, there is one in El Morche ...

http://www.centrosdesalud.net/centro-1075.html

... not sure where you are staying as to where the nearest one would be to you. They are equivalent to the GP doctor service on the NHS here.

I presume that the EHIC refund link above refers to payment for local NHS treatment and not if you have paid to see a private doctor? (In France for instance when I lived there we paid for treatment then claimed back a percentage through the national health system)

What will the difference in cost be if I go to the local Centros de Salud in El Morche, I am presuming there will still be a cost. Dr. Veegar charged us 45 euros for a consultation before he went into hospital and I am presuming she will charge the same to check his chest if we go back. Also we need an appointment for the hospital for a month's time, can the clinic arrange this for us? We have the paperwork they gave us from the hospital when he was discharged.

[Free at Last]

There should be no cost at all if you go to a public Centro de Salud. As I said earlier about the one in Vélez, what they normally do is register you as a temporary patient with your EHIC and passport details. They could then send you for an x-ray to Vélez hospital, which would also be covered by your EHIC. If you go to a private doctor for a consultation I imagine the X-ray would also have to be done at a private clinic (not sure how much they charge as we have private health insurance so the bills go direct to our insurance company).

The public Centro de Salud could, I think, arrange your follow-up appointment at the hospital but otherwise I think you'd have to contact them yourselves. I don't think it is possible for a private clinic to get you an appointment in a state hospital.

[Dunflittin68]

Thanks for the info. We will try the Centro de Salud. However we did go to the Clinic in Central Nerja just after we got here for a prescription and the doctor we saw charged us 15 euros for the consultation and I think that is a public clinic as we just walked in and waited to see one of the doctors.

[ashtondav]

No it's a private clinic I think. Just because you can walk in and wait does not mean it's public.