Travelling before the pandemic was full of small details to look out for and endless paperwork, but now more than ever, it has the added layer of a possible medical emergency.
So if you want to make sure that your few months living in your mid-term housing in Lisbon are as secure and worry-free as possible, make sure to arrive in Portugal with international health insurance.
Additionally, there are other types of insurance that you might want to consider when travelling to Lisbon.
Healthcare insurance in Lisbon
If you’re travelling to Portugal, you need to have healthcare insurance that will cover you there. If you’re from the EU, you may already have the European Health Insurance Card that will also work in Portugal the same way it operates at home. If you are from somewhere else, you will need international insurance to comply with the visa you are hoping to get for your stay in Portugal.
Without insurance, you will be denied most medical care in Portugal, apart from the treatment of life-threatening emergencies, which are free.
Even though Lisbon has extensive social healthcare provided by the state, you will be unable to opt into it for a good while as a visitor to Portugal. You can get private international health insurance from Trawick International, Seven Corners, or WorldTrips.
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Trip and baggage insurance
Many different types of insurance will depend largely on your country of origin when going to Portugal. These include things such as:
- baggage insurance
- trip insurance
- so on
These also cover things like:
- stolen baggage
- funds
- mishandled accommodation
- so on
They mainly depend on the specific plans you get and are sometimes sold directly by transportation providers in Lisbon like airlines or accommodation platforms. Just make sure you always google the name of your insurance company and see their reviews and customer satisfaction on independent sites. It can be the difference between being insured and being scammed.
Lost baggage and travel delays
You are most likely to lose your baggage during transit. Whether you left it on a train platform or it got mishandled by the airline staff, you may find yourself in Portugal without your stuff. This is why it’s essential to have all the critical documentation and money, and other vital things with you in a smaller bag that you keep with you at all times.
This way, you can find your housing in Portugal, move in, and start dealing with the situation in a calm space. Most places have a lost and found department which deals with precisely these problems. Call the station or airport where you think you lost your baggage and ask them about it. These get found and sent to you most of the time, but it can still take a few days before you have your baggage.
Transportation in Portugal is not particularly famous for terrible delays, but your mileage may vary. You will find horror stories of people waiting in trains for hours, and you will see people responding that it has never happened to them once.
The rules about delays are definitely more unconcerned than in countries like Japan. Still, all in all, the system is reasonably reliable.
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