About us and why the initiative

This web site is an initiative set up by the Spanish Private Healthcare Alliance (ASPE), the private healthcare employer group in Spain. ASPE brings together almost 600 private healthcare organisations, amongst which there are hospitals and clinics, specialised centres, laboratories, healthcare transport companies… This alliance, present all over Spain, is represented in over 80% of Spanish private centres.

The information shown on this site is aimed fundamentally at informing and guiding foreign citizens who travel to our country about the healthcare cover they are entitled to in terms of the travel and health insurance that they have taken out before coming to Spain.

In recent times, serious irregularities have been detected in the provision of healthcare services to patients, fundamentally British citizens, particularly related to attention in A&E, dispensing of medicines and transfers between centres.

The key reason behind these anomalies is the marketing of health and travel insurance policies by some insurance companies in the United Kingdom that do not cover services in private centres and the lack of transparency when informing travellers about the cover they are entitled to and where they should go if they need medical assistance in our country.

The main group adversely affected by these abusive practices is, firstly and foremostly, the patients who pay for a service that they are not entitled to and who usually receive a lower quality service due to the difficulty of the paperwork and the risks of transfer from one centre to another that occur when suffering from a medical incident.

Secondly, this fraudulent behaviour has negative repercussions on the private healthcare organisations, which often are forced to pay some expenses that are not refunded and that also see how their reputations are being damaged.