Recommendations for medical /health insurance

We use DKV. 

My wife became seriously ill last year and they were excellent.

Do they have an English-speaking  helpline please?

Hi i use DKV every good 1400 euro for the year and that covers everything. from day one. and it does not go up because you use it. 

This post is from August 2019 (the Costa Blanca Forum). It addresses your question about speaking English with DKV.

Since posting this, my wife has had surgery and radiotherapy. She is doing well. We ended up attending yet more different clinics/hospitals. 

I would add ... when choosing an insurer, be sure to choose one who works with your local GP. Your GP is the route into your insurer.

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After noticing a problem early this year, my wife needed lots of tests, and will this month complete a 25 week course of chemotherapy. Surgery is planned for September and radiotherapy for October/November. 

We initially saw our local doctor early in February. Within 20 working days we had 2 more doctor appointments, 4 consultant appointments, and 8 tests (including the complex nuclear medicine scans).

Our local doctor initially tried to put us into the Torrevieja Quiron system, but they couldn't get us in immediately. Our doctor was insistent that we got tests and treatment urgently, and we ended up using 6 different hospitals/clinics to get all the appointments/tests asap. We went to IMED in TV and Elche, Quiron in Murcia and TV, and two further clinics in Murcia.

My wife's chemo treatment has been administered at the Murcia Quiron since March. She has a private room every week. The hospital is exemplary ... calm, quiet and spotless. She sees her consultant oncologist every week, immediately prior to her chemo.

We have been able to speak English at all locations (except one of the Murcia clinics, where another British patient helped us out). The Quiron at Murcia has allocated us a translator/organiser.

It has been necessary to travel. We live in Pinar de Campoverde and the Murcia is just under an hour away.

We have only positive comments - our access to medical services has been immediate (or nearly immediate). The first two tests took place on the day we first saw our local doctor.

Dealing with the insurer in the early days was a bit stressful, but ONLY because of our poor Spanish language skills. Many outpatient tests/procedures required prior authorisation. This was the process ... (a) our doctor or consultant gave us a written prescription for a service (usually on hospital documentation with admin bar codes etc), (b) we photographed the document and emailed it to DKV, (c) we phoned DKV to chase it up, (d) DKV emailed the authorisation back to us, (e) we took the authorisation with us to the appointment, wherever it was. I should emphasise that we were seeking outpatient authorisations urgently (typically for a procedure in the next day or two). 

When we phoned DKV, we ignored the Spanish language menu options. We hung on until the end, when a human being came on the line. We asked to speak English, and were put through to an English speaker. We usually ended up talking to the same guy, who was extremely helpful. 

Once we were inside the Murcia Quiron system, my wife was classified as an inpatient, and the hospital handled all the admin/authorisations with DKV.

The learning points here are 

- most things need authorisation

- you have more responsibility for managing the process

- you keep and take care of your own medical test records ... unlike the British NHS.

I hope this is helpful. For us, travelling an hour or so isn't a problem, but this might present a problem to others. 

DKV does not contract with all hospitals for all services .... so you have to go where DKV send you. 

DKV were helpful and flexible in permitting access to multiple service providers to get lots of tests done very quickly. That flexibility enabled a very quick treatment start. 

We have no experience outside of DKV. Other companies may be just as good or better, but we have no difficulty in recommending DKV. 

I hope your wife is getting better now. It could be very stressful when you are In this type of situation. Only time will tell.

Wishing your wife speedy recovery 

Hi i do not use any local g p it is all yes all done in house, even your gp and dentist are in the same place. i have never had a problem getting tests and i have needed lots, mri scan which took two days to get done. i highly recommend DKV. I cut my thumb badly when sharpening a knife, they check it stitched and it up no problem. 4 cm long across my knuckle six stitches in it and i go twice a week to have it checked stitches out yesterday and back tomorrow to have it checked again and redressed. they are very very good. when i signed two years ago i had a well man check done the following day. I could not complain if i wanted to they are that good. If you go as i will in 12 mounts time on to the Spanish system they do a top up policy, you use your local g p but no waiting for any tests. 

Regards Phil   

O and i do not speak Spanish at all they do speek english