Portuguese immigrants not in National Health Care included anymore

Portuguese emigrants will be taken off the NHS system and pay for services in Portugal

Portuguese citizens abroad will be “inactive” in the National Health Service (SNS) and have to pay for care starting January 1, 2024, according to the new rules of the National Users Registry.

Several doctors exercising in primary health services told Lusa that they were informed that, from January 1, the Portuguese with a tax address outside Portugal will be considered “inactive”.

This means that whenever they use a Portuguese NHS service, they will have to pay the cost.

Nelson Magalhães, vice president of USF-AN (Family Health Unit – National Association), told Lusa that the decision was transmitted to the units at a meeting that took place on October 2, with heads of the Central Administration of the Health System and (ACSS) and the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS).

At issue is the application of an order (no 1668/2023) that “defines the rules of organization and the management mechanisms related to the National Registry of Users (NUR), as well as the rules of registration of the citizen in the NHS and registration in primary health care”.

A source of the ACSS indicated to Lusa that the dispatch provides that the registration in a Primary Health Care Unit presupposes an active registration in the RNU, which “has as a mandatory condition residence in Portugal”.

Until now, Portuguese residents abroad, with a number of the Portuguese NHS, when accessing their services, they paid the moderating fees, as well as those in Portugal.

From January 1, Portuguese with tax residence abroad will have their “inactive” registration, even the service visitors.

In addition to ceasing to have a family doctor, in case they have it, these users will have to bear the cost of care: “About the inactive registration, with the exception of death situations, the condition of burden assumed by the citizen applies”, reads the dispatch.

Although without precise higher indications as to the method, the professionals of the primary health services are trying to contact the users in these circumstances, who react with apprehension and some revolt.

“I think it’s very unfair. Although it is true that at the moment I live abroad, I still prefer to use the health service in Portugal, since the language and familiarity makes it easier to treat, especially some chronic health issues and to which I have always received accompaniment in Portugal with the same family doctor who has followed me since I was a child”, said a user currently living in the Netherlands, and who has already been informed that he will be purged from the NHS.

He continued: “I continue to be Portuguese and I feel that this policy excludes me and will hinder access to health.”

For Nelson Magalhães, these are “many people who are a user” of the NHS and who “does not want to cut the link with their family doctor”.

“It’s a matter of trust. People, with technological means such as email, often maintain the connection with their doctor.”

The great impact will be on users who live abroad with a family doctor in Portugal, because they will “lose this connection”.

Nelson Magalhães stressed that these Portuguese emigrants must have the European Health Insurance Card, which allows them to receive medical assistance during a temporary stay in a country in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.

However, the leader of the USF-AN warned of the small number of users with this card, since until today “never necessary” in Portugal.

The measure, he said, should cover hundreds of Portuguese, since in a universe of 1,750 users (by family doctor), about 100 migrated.