Does your Spanish health card work outside your home region?

Key rules

• Emergency number: Call 112 for an emergency anywhere in Spain; it is free.
• Scheduled care: Planned specialist care or surgery in another region needs your home region's approval; there is no general right to choose.
• One card only: You cannot hold two regional cards, so moving for good means getting the new region's card.
• Prescriptions: Electronic prescriptions work across regions, and what you pay towards medicine stays the same.

Yes, your card works anywhere in Spain

Show your card and you get primary, urgent and hospital care in any region. You are treated as a desplazado, a patient away from home. The region you are in treats you, and your home region pays it back.

This covers an unplanned visit to a health centre or a hospital. It does not cover everything. Planned treatment and long stays follow other rules, explained below.

Emergencies and advice

Call 112 for an emergency. Many regions also run a non-emergency health line, often 061, but some use their own numbers. Find your host region's line before you need it. 024 is the national mental-health and suicide-prevention line.

Prescriptions

Electronic prescriptions from your home region can be filled in pharmacies in nearly all other regions. Show your card and ID, and the pharmacist retrieves your treatments. What you pay towards the medicine is set nationally, so it does not change when you move between regions. Private prescriptions are not covered. If the system does not find your prescription, ask the pharmacy what they can do, since some regions still use paper.

Scheduled care and surgery in another region

You do not have a general right to choose a hospital or doctor in another region. Each region sets its own rules. There are three main routes:

• Referral (derivación). Your home region sends you to a hospital elsewhere when it lacks the service or capacity. Your home region authorises and pays. Get this approved before you travel.
• Reference centres (CSUR). These are national centres for rare or complex conditions. Your treating specialist makes the request, and your home region approves it.
• Free hospital choice. Some regions, such as Madrid, let their own residents choose a hospital. Some also accept patients from other regions, depending on waiting times.

A second opinion may also be possible. Conditions vary by region and by case, so ask your home regional health service. The decision box below compares these options.

Staying for months in another region

If you are away temporarily, you generally keep your home card and are attended as a desplazado. Many regions let you be assigned a GP for a stay of some months. This is usually arranged at the local health centre, so ask there. The rules on how long and what status you get depend on the region.

If you are moving for good, register on the padrón of your new municipality and ask the new region for its card. That cancels the old one. You cannot hold two regional cards at once.

Choosing between options

How can you get scheduled specialist care or surgery in another region?

• Reference centre for rare or complex conditions: You have a rare or complex condition and your treating specialist requests a nationally designated centre, which your home region must approve.

• Free hospital choice: Your home region allows residents to choose a hospital, as Madrid does, or accepts patients from other regions under its waiting-time rules.

• Second opinion: You want another view on a diagnosis or treatment, which may be possible in another region.

Free choice of hospital between regions is not a general right. Start with your treating specialist: the route depends on your condition and on what your home region approves.

Checklist

• Call 112 in an emergency anywhere in Spain; it is free and answered in several languages.

• Carry your health card and ID whenever you travel to another region.

• Ask your treating specialist about a referral to a hospital in another region if you need scheduled care there.

• Check with your home regional health service that a referral is authorised before you travel for treatment.

• Show your card and ID at the pharmacy so the pharmacist can retrieve your electronic prescription.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fill my prescription in a pharmacy in another region?

Yes, electronic prescriptions from one region can be filled in pharmacies in almost all other regions if you have a health card. Show your card and ID, and the pharmacist pulls up your active treatments. Your co-payment stays the same as at home, and private prescriptions are not covered.

Can I get a specialist or surgery in another region?

Not as a general right, because each region sets its own rules on choosing a hospital.

What if I stay several months in another region?

You generally keep your home-region card and are treated as a temporary visitor, called a desplazado. Many regions let you be assigned a temporary GP, usually arranged at the local health centre. You cannot hold two regional cards, so if your habitual residence changes you must move your card to the new region.

Which number do I call for health advice that is not an emergency?

Many regions have their own non-emergency health line, and 061 is used in several of them, such as Catalonia, Andalucía, Galicia and Canarias. Madrid uses 900 102 112 for non-urgent advice. For mental-health or suicide-prevention support anywhere in Spain, call 024.