Obesity is one of the things you have to try to avoid in order to have good health.
The truth, however, is that for many things we do we can not guarantee that we will always have perfect health, and that is why there are the medical profession and health insurance.
Being overweight is a problem for health but, as you can see, it is not the same problem in all of Spain.
If we look at the data from the European Health Survey for Spain, in which respondents are asked about their height and weight and therefore it is possible to calculate their body mass index or BMI, the highest percentage of obese people in Spain is given in the Autonomous Community of Galicia, where one in five adults is obese.
Andalusia and the Principality of Asturias are not far behind, while the thinnest communities are the Foral de Navarra, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.
You may be thinking about purchasing health insurance.
It is a good idea. Health insurance in Spain offers important advantages, such as direct access to the specialist: you can go to it whenever you want or believe that you need it, at your discretion.
Of course, this service, like all insurance products, has its complexities and, therefore, it is important that you take into account some things. Here we give you a series of basic tips.
1. Be aware that your health insurance will be with you for many years.
When you judge the service capacity or evolution of your insurance, do not see everything in relation to the health care needs you have now. Your life will be long, and it is important that your insurance is able to respond to the needs that arise.
2. Think in a group.
If you are not alone in life, consider the possibility of group insurance, which includes your spouse, your children, your loved ones.
Insurance always feels more “comfortable” by insuring several people at once (thus risks are better compensated), and it is likely that a family policy will bring you more into account than an aggregation of individual contracts with the same coverages.
3. Be honest in the questionnaire.
If your insurer presents you with a health questionnaire to assess your situation at the time of insurance, do not fall into the temptation to hide or mask this or that detail to save a few euros in the premium.
If you try that you will be cheating and breaking the good faith relationship that forms an insurance contract.
4. Remember the health insurance in your place of work.
Today, there are many companies that consider subscribing insurance for their workers.
This is also the case, because the Spanish tax legislation is quite generous at this point, so you can have a very complete insurance without having to pay for the premium that your employer pays in your favor.
In many cases, in addition, these insurances set up within the company give you the option of including your family members.
5. Of course, judge the coverages before buying.
Ask the insurers for their medical charts. Requires that they inform you of the coverage and specialties included in the contract they offer you.
Consider imaginary assumptions, and ask them what type of coverage you would get if you or yours suffer from that ailment.
Find out more about the offer of services in the most common coverages (emergencies, births, etc.) Ask about the terms of care, hospital centers available in your city or in your area. Do not buy blindly.
6. Choose between reimbursement and healthcare.
Health insurance is marketed in two basic ways: the so-called reimbursement pays you a percentage (usually quite high) of the bill that your doctor presents to you, which you choose therefore.
The health care is an insurance that provides you with a chart of medical services within which you can choose the one that suits you or you like it, but from which you can not leave.
Each modality has its pros and cons, and if they exist, it is because there are different types of consumers that need different types of services. Ask yourself which one you feel most comfortable with and, once you have it clear, compare.
7. What if they throw me out?
It is almost impossible that in your inner circle there is not someone who tries to dissuade you from buying health insurance because, he will tell you, “now that you are young you are interested, but as soon as you begin to have serious ailments, they will throw you out”.
Plan that story for the insurer or insurers you contact, and it’s more than likely that you’ll get a pretty positive surprise: insurers do not kick people out because they’re sick.
In fact, in the sector association UNESPA there is a Code of Good Practices that regulates this renunciation of opposition.
8. You can also foresee the loss:
In certain cases (especially if you are self-employed) in addition to health care you may be interested in foreseeing the economic consequences of not being able to work because they have operated on you or you have become ill. Health insurance can also offer you coverages in this matter.
9. … and prevention:
Do not forget that health insurance is not only there to help you when something happens to you. It is also there to prevent it from happening to you.
Take a look at their offers on prevention. With your help, you may be able to reduce the obesity statistics of your autonomous community.