Healthcare in Portugal

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

• You are moving to Portugal, from the EU or outside it, and want to know how healthcare works.
• You arrived on a visa with travel insurance and need to know what it does not cover.
• You are deciding whether to add private insurance, or need a pharmacy, a specialist, or emergency care.

Not for you if: You only need the step-by-step of getting your health user number at the health centre: read "Registering with the SNS in Portugal".

Updated September 2026. Co-payment figures corrected (most SNS fees were abolished in 2022; only unreferred emergency visits still carry a charge), the 2026 exemption threshold and the family-doctor "five-year rule" added, and the one-stop NIF, NISS, and SNS number service at Espaço Cidadão included.

Portugal has two healthcare systems running side by side: the public Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS, the National Health Service), which every legal resident can use, and a large private sector that most residents dip into for speed. Newcomers usually end up using both. This guide explains how to get into the SNS, what it costs, where it is slow, what private insurance actually buys you, and what to do when something goes wrong at 2 a.m.

What the SNS is and how it is organised

The SNS is a tax-funded public health service, created in 1979 and run by the Ministry of Health. Since 1 January 2024 (Decreto-Lei n.º 102/2023), the whole mainland has been organised into Unidades Locais de Saúde (ULS, local health units), each combining the health centres and the hospital of one area under a single management. In practice you will deal with three layers:

• Centro de saúde (health centre). Your first stop for anything that is not an emergency. Most health centres are organised into smaller teams called USF or UCSP. This is where your family doctor, nurses, vaccinations, and referrals live.
• Hospital. Specialist consultations, tests that the health centre cannot do, surgery, and the emergency department (urgência).
• SNS 24. The phone line (808 24 24 24), app, and website that triage you, book you into a same-day consultation, or send you to the right place. Treat it as the front door to the system.

Clinical quality in the SNS is high, and maternity, paediatric, cancer, and emergency care are strong. The weakness is access: waiting times for a family doctor, a first specialist appointment, and non-urgent surgery.

Who can use the SNS

Under the Lei de Bases da Saúde (Lei n.º 95/2019) and the rules of the Registo Nacional de Utentes (RNU, the national patient register, Despacho n.º 14830/2024), the SNS is open to:

• Portuguese citizens and their dependants
• EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens registered as residents in Portugal (holders of the Certificado de Registo de Cidadão da União Europeia, CRUE, issued by the Câmara Municipal)
• Non-EU citizens with a valid residence permit (autorização de residência) issued by AIMA, or who have applied for one
• Asylum seekers, refugees, and beneficiaries of international protection
• Children under 18 living in Portugal, whatever their parents' status, and without needing a NIF or residence permit

If you are a tourist or on a short stay, you are not entitled to routine SNS care, but you will always be treated in an emergency. EU citizens use the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), and UK visitors the GHIC, for necessary care during a temporary stay.

People without legal status can still get free maternity and child health care, vaccinations under the national programme, treatment for communicable diseases, and urgent care, on presentation of a declaration from the junta de freguesia (parish office) showing more than 90 days of residence in Portugal.

Before you register: newcomers, travel insurance, and the gap

Most people arrive on a national visa (D7, D8, D2, and so on) that was granted on the strength of a travel insurance policy. That policy is not health cover in the ordinary sense. It typically pays for emergencies, hospital stays after an accident or sudden illness, and repatriation. It does not pay for a routine GP visit, a repeat prescription, a chronic condition, physiotherapy, dental work, or mental health support, and it usually expires within a year. Read your policy before you rely on it.

Until you are registered with the SNS, that travel policy plus pay-as-you-go private clinics are what you have. So the practical order is:

1. Get your NIF (tax number) first; nothing else moves without it.
2. Register with the SNS as soon as you have a residence document, or proof that you have applied for one (see the next section). Do not wait until you are ill.
3. Decide, once you can see how long you will wait for a family doctor in your area, whether you want a Portuguese private health policy on top. In the North, most people get a family doctor within weeks or a few months. In Lisbon and the Algarve it can take much longer.

How to register with the SNS and get your número de utente

Your número de utente (SNS user number, also called the Número Nacional de Utente, NNU) is the number that follows you through every health centre, hospital, and pharmacy in the country. Registration is free.

Documents to bring

Where to register

1. Your local health centre. Go to the centro de saúde that serves your address (SNS 24 can tell you which one). Staff enter you in the RNU and give you your número de utente, normally on the spot. Some health centres accept registration requests by email; ask at reception or check the ULS website.
2. Espaço Cidadão one-stop service. Since March 2025, foreign citizens with a residence permit (or an application in progress), EU citizens, and international protection applicants can request the NIF, NISS, and número de utente in a single visit at designated Espaço Cidadão desks. At the time of writing these are in Braga, Porto (two locations), Loures, Cascais (two), Oeiras, Lisbon (two), Setúbal, Olhão, Lagos, and Faro, with more promised.
3. Automatically, on first contact. If you turn up at an SNS unit without a number, one is created for you. It will be a provisional (em curso) registration, valid for 180 days, and the SNS will not cover your costs until you complete it with the documents above. Do not leave it provisional.

Once your registration is atualizado (complete), ask to be put on the list for a médico de família (family doctor). You may be told there is a wait. You can still use the health centre for same-day acute consultations (consulta do dia or consulta aberta), nursing care, and vaccinations while you wait, and SNS 24 can book you into those.

Keep your registration active. Since mid-June 2026, under new RNU rules published on 12 March 2026, anyone with a family doctor who has had no contact with the SNS for more than five years loses that doctor (not their SNS registration) so the place can go to someone else. Any contact with the system counts, including a pharmacy prescription or an SNS 24 call, so this only bites people who never use it.

The family doctor shortage, honestly. In May 2026 the Portal da Transparência do SNS showed 1,666,823 registered users without a family doctor out of 10.8 million. More than 1.1 million of those are in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region. The whole North region had fewer than 100,000. Where you live matters far more than your nationality.

What the SNS costs: taxas moderadoras in 2026

Several older guides still quote a EUR 4.50 fee for a GP visit and EUR 7 for a specialist. Those figures are out of date. Since 1 June 2022 (Lei n.º 7/2022 and Decreto-Lei n.º 37/2022, amending Decreto-Lei n.º 113/2011), taxas moderadoras (co-payments) have been abolished for almost everything in the SNS:

The only fee left is for walking into an emergency department without being sent there. The amounts depend on the type of unit: EUR 14 at a Serviço de Urgência Básica (basic emergency unit, often attached to a health centre), EUR 16 at a Serviço de Urgência Médico-Cirúrgica (district hospital), and EUR 18 at a Serviço de Urgência Polivalente (large central hospital). Tests done during the visit can add a little more, but the total for one visit is capped at EUR 40. If you cannot pay on the day you are given ten days to settle.

You pay nothing at the emergency department if:

• You were sent there by SNS 24, by your health centre, or by INEM (the ambulance service), and the referral is recorded in the system
• You are admitted to hospital as a result of the visit
• You belong to an exempt group

Exempt groups (Decreto-Lei n.º 113/2011, art. 4) include pregnant women, everyone under 18, people with a disability rating of 60 percent or more, unemployed people registered with the IEFP job centre whose benefit does not exceed 1.5 times the IAS, voluntary blood donors, living organ and tissue donors, transplant patients, firefighters, asylum seekers and refugees, disabled ex-service members, and anyone in "economic insufficiency". The last one means a household whose average monthly income per person is at or below 1.5 times the IAS, which in 2026 is EUR 805.70 (IAS EUR 537.13, Portaria n.º 480-A/2025/1). You apply for that exemption through the SNS 24 portal or at your health centre; it is checked against Finanças data and recorded electronically, so you carry no paper.

Prescriptions and pharmacies

Prescriptions in Portugal are electronic (receita sem papel). Your doctor sends them to your phone by SMS and email, and any pharmacy in the country can dispense them with your número de utente. Pharmacies are marked by a green cross, and pharmacists are well trained and used to giving first-line advice.

How the subsidy works. The State pays part of the price of most prescribed medicines. There are four tiers (Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2015 and Portaria n.º 195-D/2015):

Pensioners on low incomes get an extra 5 percentage points on tier A and 15 on tiers B, C, and D, and 95 percent on the cheapest generics. Pharmacists are legally required to tell you when a cheaper generic exists. For most people, a course of antibiotics or a month of blood-pressure tablets costs a few euros.

Opening hours and duty pharmacies. Most pharmacies open Monday to Friday, roughly 9:00 to 19:00, and Saturday mornings. Every municipality has a rotating farmácia de serviço (duty pharmacy) open through the night and on Sundays and holidays. The rota is posted on every pharmacy door and at farmaciasdeservico.net (note the spelling; older guides give the wrong address).

Over the counter. Painkillers, cold and allergy remedies, and many creams are sold without a prescription. Antibiotics and most chronic medication require one. Bring your current prescriptions and a list of active ingredients from home; brand names differ, and the pharmacist will find the equivalent.

Specialists, tests, and surgery: what to expect

Your family doctor is the gatekeeper. If you need a specialist, they issue a referral and you are placed in the hospital's queue for a first consultation. Since 2 April 2026, Portaria n.º 137/2026 sets the maximum guaranteed response times the SNS commits to: for example, 30 days for surgery classed as priority and 180 days for normal priority, with shorter limits for cancer and cardiac cases. A new access system (SINACC, replacing the old SIGIC) was due to go live in August 2026; the idea is that when your hospital cannot meet the deadline you can choose to be treated in another SNS, private, or social-sector hospital at the SNS's expense. It is new, contested by the Ordem dos Médicos, and you should not plan around it yet.

The queues are real. At the end of 2025, roughly 1.08 million people were waiting for a first specialist consultation and about 264,000 for surgery. Orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and dermatology tend to be the slowest. This, not clinical quality, is why so many residents keep a private policy.

Private healthcare and insurance

Portugal's private sector is large, modern, and, by Northern European or North American standards, cheap. Most private doctors also work in the SNS. The big hospital groups are CUF (part of José de Mello Saúde), Luz Saúde (Hospital da Luz, owned by the insurer Fidelidade), Lusíadas Saúde, and, in the North, Trofa Saúde. In the Porto area you will find Hospital CUF Porto, Hospital Lusíadas Porto, Hospital da Luz Arrábida in Gaia, and Trofa Saúde units in Trofa, Braga, Gaia, and Vila Real, among others. In the Algarve the main name is the HPA group.

Paying as you go. Without insurance, expect roughly EUR 50 to 80 for a GP consultation, EUR 70 to 150 for a specialist, EUR 30 to 80 for a standard blood panel, EUR 150 to 400 for an MRI, and EUR 60 to 150 to walk into a private emergency department before any tests. These are market estimates from 2026 price lists, not regulated prices; ask for a quote.

Portuguese health insurance. The main insurers are Médis (Ageas), Multicare (Fidelidade), Allianz, MGEN, and plans administered by AdvanceCare. Rough 2026 premiums:

Read the small print on three things: waiting periods (carências) of several months before hospitalisation is covered, exclusion of pre-existing conditions, and annual caps per type of care. Most plans carry a co-payment of EUR 10 to 20 per consultation. Many employers offer group cover, which is usually cheaper and often skips the pre-existing-condition exclusions.

International insurance. Cigna, Allianz Care, Bupa Global, and similar cost far more (EUR 150 to 500 or more a month) but cover you outside Portugal and in English. Sensible if you travel constantly or have a condition Portuguese insurers will not take on; overkill for most settled residents.

ADSE. If you work for the Portuguese State (including public universities and municipalities), you can join ADSE, the civil servants' health subsystem, for 3.5 percent of your salary. It is voluntary, covers dependants, and gives access to most private hospitals with low co-payments. It is widely regarded as the best deal in Portuguese healthcare.

What most people actually do. Keep the SNS for the family doctor, prescriptions, maternity, vaccinations, chronic disease follow-up, and anything serious enough to need admission. Use a private policy, or pay directly, for a quick specialist opinion, imaging, dental, and physiotherapy. There is no rule against mixing; a private specialist's report can go straight to your SNS family doctor.

Dental, optical, and mental health

Dental. The SNS covers very little adult dentistry. A few health centres now have dentists under the oral health programme, but plan to pay privately or through an insurance add-on. The cheque-dentista (dental voucher) scheme covers children and teenagers at set ages, pregnant women followed by the SNS, older people receiving the Complemento Solidário para Idosos, and people living with HIV; your family doctor issues it. Private prices are moderate: about EUR 40 to 80 for a check-up and clean, EUR 60 to 120 for a filling, EUR 300 to 600 for a crown, and EUR 800 to 1,500 for an implant.

Optical. Eye tests are available on referral through the SNS, but glasses and contact lenses are not covered.

Mental health. Psychiatry and psychology exist in the SNS and are free, but the wait for a first appointment can be months. Many health centres now have a psychologist. For immediate support, SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) has a psychological counselling option that operates in Portuguese and English. Private therapists charge about EUR 50 to 100 a session, and English-speaking therapists are easy to find in Porto, Lisbon, and the Algarve, harder elsewhere.

Emergencies: 112, urgência, and SNS 24

112 is the number for every emergency (medical, fire, police) across Portugal and the EU. Calls are free and operators can take the call in English. For a medical emergency you will be put through to INEM, which sends the ambulance.

Urgência is the hospital emergency department. It is open 24 hours and treats everyone, resident or not, insured or not. Triage follows the Manchester protocol: red and orange are seen immediately, yellow within about an hour, and green and blue can wait several hours in a busy city hospital. Go straight to urgência for chest pain, stroke symptoms, breathing difficulty, severe bleeding, serious injury, or a severe allergic reaction.

For everything else, call SNS 24 first (808 24 24 24, 24 hours a day, Portuguese and English). A nurse will triage you, give advice, book a same-day appointment at your health centre, or send you to the right emergency unit with a recorded referral, which also removes the co-payment. Fevers, minor injuries, infections, and rashes belong at the health centre or on the phone, not in the queue at Hospital de São João.

Private emergency departments (CUF, Luz, Lusíadas, Trofa) are faster and quieter, and are the right choice for a green-triage problem when you are willing to pay or your policy covers it. For anything life-threatening, 112 and the nearest public hospital are still the right call.

Common problems and how to avoid them

• Not registering because you "have insurance". Register anyway. It is free, it is the only route to subsidised prescriptions and free hospital care, and AIMA and Segurança Social both expect you to have a número de utente eventually.
• Treating your visa travel policy as health cover. It is emergency-only, time-limited, and full of exclusions. Sort out SNS registration and, if you want it, a Portuguese policy in your first months.
• Leaving a provisional registration open. An em curso registration lapses after 180 days and the SNS will not pay your bills in the meantime. Take your documents back to the health centre.
• Relying on the EHIC after moving. The EHIC is for temporary stays. Once you are resident, register with the SNS. Pensioners from another EU or EEA country, Switzerland, or the UK should obtain an S1 form from the country paying the pension and hand it to Segurança Social, so that country funds your SNS care.
• Going to urgência for a sore throat. You will wait hours and pay EUR 14 to 18. Call SNS 24.
• Arriving without records. Bring a summary of your medical history, current prescriptions with active ingredients, and vaccination records, ideally with a Portuguese translation.
• Assuming everyone speaks English. Big hospitals and private clinics manage. Small health centres in the interior often do not. Learn consulta (appointment), receita (prescription), urgência (emergency department), análises (blood tests), and médico de família.

After you are registered

• Download the SNS 24 app (it replaced the older MySNS app) and log in with your Chave Móvel Digital. You can see prescriptions, test results, vaccination records, and dental vouchers, book health centre appointments, and check emergency department waiting times.
• Ask Segurança Social Direta for a Portuguese EHIC once you are registered with both the SNS and Social Security; you will need it when you travel in Europe.
• Keep your address and phone number up to date at the health centre. The five-year rule and the ULS reorganisation both depend on the register being right.
• Attend the first family doctor appointment when it comes, even if you feel well. That visit puts your history, chronic prescriptions, and vaccination status into the system and keeps the doctor.

Sources

• ERS, Entidade Reguladora da Saúde, FAQ on taxas moderadoras: https://www.ers.pt/pt/utentes/perguntas-frequentes/faq/taxas-moderadoras-do-sns/ (which services still charge fees, exemptions, legal references)
• ERS, FAQ on access of foreign citizens to the SNS: https://www.ers.pt/pt/utentes/perguntas-frequentes/faq/acesso-de-cidadaos-estrangeiros-a-prestacao-de-cuidados-de-saude-no-servico-nacional-de-saude/ (eligibility, RNU registration types, 180-day provisional registration, minors, care for people without legal status)
• ULS Santa Maria FAQ on taxas moderadoras, July 2024: https://www.ulssm.min-saude.pt/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2024.07.23_FAQ_taxas_moderadoras.pdf (full list of exempt groups, under-18 rule, referral rule)
• Hospital Fernando Fonseca, taxas moderadoras page: https://hff.min-saude.pt/taxas-moderadoras/ (EUR 16 and EUR 14 emergency fees, EUR 40 cap)
• gov.pt, exemption for economic insufficiency: https://www.gov.pt/servicos/pedir-a-isencao-de-taxas-moderadoras-por-insuficiencia-economica (EUR 805.70 threshold for 2026)
• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 480-A/2025/1: https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/portaria/480-a-2025-993056222 (IAS 2026 of EUR 537.13)
• ePortugal, registering at a health centre: https://eportugal.gov.pt/servicos/inscrever-se-no-centro-de-saude (free registration, documents, SNS 24 to find your health centre)
• gov.pt, healthcare for migrants (English): https://www2.gov.pt/en/migrantes-viver-e-trabalhar-em-portugal/migrantes-cuidados-de-saude-em-portugal (who gets a número de utente, documents, SNS 24 hours, EHIC for residents)
• Government of Portugal, one-stop NIF, NISS, and NNU service: https://portugal.gov.pt/gc24/comunicacao/noticias/cidadaos-estrangeiros-em-situacao-regular-ja-podem-obter-os-principais-numeros-de-identificacao-num-unico-pedido (eligibility and Espaço Cidadão locations)
• ACSS, simplification of access to the NNU for foreign citizens: https://www.acss.min-saude.pt/2025/03/17/acss-reforca-simplificacao-no-acesso-ao-numero-nacional-de-utente-para-cidadaos-estrangeiros/ (same service, "requested or obtained" residence permit)
• Portal da Transparência do SNS via HealthNews, 1 July 2026: https://healthnews.pt/2026/07/01/numero-de-utentes-sem-medico-de-familia-aumenta-quase-66-mil-este-ano/ (users without a family doctor, May 2026, regional split)
• ECO, 12 March 2026, five-year rule: https://eco.sapo.pt/2026/03/12/utentes-sem-contacto-com-o-sns-ha-cinco-anos-podem-perder-medico-de-familia/ (Despacho of 12 March 2026, effect from mid-June 2026)
• HealthNews, 12 March 2026, ACSS on the new RNU rules: https://healthnews.pt/2026/03/12/novas-regras-do-registo-de-utentes-querem-libertar-vagas-e-melhorar-acesso-a-medico-de-familia-diz-acss/ (registration is kept, only the doctor place is released)
• ECO, 1 April 2026, Portaria n.º 137/2026: https://eco.sapo.pt/2026/04/01/sns-tem-novos-tempos-maximos-de-resposta-para-consultas-e-cirurgias/ (maximum guaranteed response times)
• Government of Portugal, 4 June 2026, new surgery access model: https://portugal.gov.pt/gc25/comunicacao/noticias/novo-modelo-de-acesso-a-cirurgia-coloca-os-utentes-no-centro-da-decisao (SINACC, patient choice, August 2026 start)
• TVI/CNN Portugal, 10 February 2026, waiting lists at end 2025: https://tvi.iol.pt/noticias/saude/sns/mais-de-um-milhao-de-utentes-aguardavam-consulta-e-264-mil-por-cirurgia-no-final-de-2025/20260210/698b9b3ed34e92a34498b2fd (1.08 million and 264,000)
• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 195-D/2015 (medicine subsidy tiers): https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/legislacao-consolidada/portaria/2015-869913746 (escalões A to D)
• ACSS, special subsidy regimes: https://www.acss.min-saude.pt/2016/09/19/regimes-especiais-de-comparticipacao-de-medicamentos/ (pensioner top-ups)
• gov.pt, SNS 24 psychological counselling in English: https://www.gov.pt/noticias/linha-de-aconselhamento-psicologico-do-sns-24-disponivel-em-ingles (English service on 808 24 24 24)
• Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas, cheque-dentista: https://www.omd.pt/pnpso/chequedentista/apresentacao/ (eligible groups)
• Farmácias de Serviço: https://www.farmaciasdeservico.net/ (duty pharmacy rota)
• Your Europe, health cover when living abroad: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/health/when-living-abroad/health-insurance-cover/index_en.htm (S1 for pensioners, EHIC for temporary stays)
• Diário da República, Decreto-Lei n.º 102/2023: https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2023/11/21500/0000400020.pdf (ULS from 1 January 2024)

Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.