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Is health insurance worth it for you?

Compare what you pay, or were asked to pay, with what you would spend without insurance, based on your usage. Also see how much you pay for hospitalization and if your insurance meets the ASF standard.
  • Insurance agent registered with ASF and credit intermediary registered with BdP
  • With the IRS discount
  • We never tell you to switch without talking to you
What do you want to know?

Three questions to find out if your health insurance is worth it

Who is covered by the insurance?
How many times do you visit a private doctor per year?
€/month

Without a premium, we use the market average: about €34.82 per person per month (ASF, 2024).
In «In detail» you also see the coverage limits of your insurance alongside the ASF reference. You can change everything there.

Your insurance and the ASF reference

Compare the coverage of your insurance with the standard health insurance from ASF. Below the reference, a serious illness or major surgery can exhaust the coverage.
  • Hospitalization€30,000Surgeries and hospitalizations. Copayment of 10%, up to €500.
  • Consultations and exams€1,000Consultations and exams, per year. In-network, you pay a fixed amount per service.
  • Serious illnesses€300,000Cancer and serious cardiovascular diseases.

How to know if your health insurance is worth it, in 4 steps

It's not just the price. It's what you use, what you pay each visit, and what happens in a hospitalization.

  1. Count the visits to private healthcare

    Consultations, exams, and emergencies for each person, in a normal year. The SNS is not included.

  2. Check the copayments

    It's what you pay each visit in the insurer's network. Outside the network, you pay everything and request reimbursement.

  3. Confirm the coverage

    The ASF reference is €30,000 for hospitalization and €1,000 for consultations and exams.

  4. Before changing, consider the waiting periods

    A new insurance may have six months without hospitalization coverage and may not cover pre-existing conditions.
Want to know more about health insurance? See the health insurance page

Illustrative cases

Illustration of Natália and Sérgio with their children, in front of a clinic
Illustrative example

Natália and Sérgio's insurance went up again. They were going to cancel. They did the math first.

They live in Penafiel with 2 children; the oldest in the house is 42 years old. Upon renewal, the family's health insurance increased by 16% and went up to €140 per month. Before canceling or changing, they wanted to know if it was worth it for their usage.
  1. 1The doubt: “We pay so much. Is it worth it?”
  2. 2What the tool showed: “Worth it”: day-to-day, they save about €11.76 per month compared to paying out of pocket, already with IRS. But the hospitalization capital, €25,000, was below the ASF reference, and canceling brought waiting periods of 6 months.
  3. 3The result: with a manager, they kept the insurance, increased the hospitalization capital, and reviewed the children's consultation copayments, instead of canceling and starting from scratch.

Worth it starting from 4 visits

Difference per month€11.76/month

Difference per month
€11.76/month
in savings, already with IRS
Worth it starting from
4 visits
doctor visits per person per year
Hospitalization Capital
€25,000
ASF reference: €30,000
“If we canceled, we would have waiting periods again. And the hospitalization capital was low.” — Natália
Illustration of Bianca next to a clinic, with a protection shield
Illustrative example

Bianca goes to the doctor twice a year. She was offered health insurance.

She is 29 years old, lives in Vizela, and works as an employee. She was offered insurance for €24 per month. She wanted to know if it was worth it before signing.
  1. 1The doubt: “Everyone says it's indispensable.”
  2. 2What the tool showed: “Worth it for the protection”: for consultations, she would pay about €7.79 more per month than without insurance. It was only worth it starting from 3 visits doctor visits per year. In a hospitalization of €8,000, she would pay about €500.
  3. 3The result: she took the insurance for the protection, knowing how much she pays for it, and confirmed that the hospitalization capital was at least €30,000.

Worth it starting from 3 visits

Difference per month€7.79/month

Difference per month
€7.79/month
more per month, for the protection
Worth it starting from
3 visits
doctor visits per person per year
In a hospitalization
€500
instead of €8,000
“It's not for the consultations. It's for the day I need surgery without waiting.” — Bianca
*Illustrative, non-binding example, with fictional characters and values, purely indicative and subject to confirmation. It does not constitute an insurance offer, nor does it replace the analysis of each client’s personal situation or the insurer’s acceptance of the risk. Under the information duty set out in Law no. 7/2019, of January 16 (legal framework for insurance distribution). CrediSegur (CRRF Brokerage, Lda.) — Insurance Agent registered with the ASF under no. 421571530, for the Life and Non-Life branches, under a commercial agreement with Seguramos – Corretores de Seguros, S.A. In the event of a dispute, the client may resort to CIMPAS — Centro de Informação, Mediação e Arbitragem de Seguros. Illustrative cases: characters, values, and conditions are fictional and serve only to demonstrate how the tool works. Prices, copayments, and capitals vary from insurance to insurance. This is not an insurance proposal.

What is true and what is myth in health insurance

Four ideas we often hear, and what to do about each.
  • Myth“With health insurance, everything is covered.”False. You pay a copayment each visit, there are annual limits, and exclusions: pre-existing conditions, aesthetics, often psychology and dental.What to do: Read the list of exclusions and limits in the specific conditions.
  • Truth“Switching insurance can be costly.”True. A new insurance may have waiting periods, usually six months for hospitalization, and may not cover pre-existing conditions. After age 60, many insurers no longer accept new clients.What to do: Before canceling, ask to negotiate the current one, or to waive the waiting periods when switching.
  • Depends“A health plan is the same as insurance.”It's not. The plan offers discounts on consultations and has no waiting periods, but you pay for everything else. It doesn't cover hospitalizations or have coverage.What to do: If what concerns you is a hospitalization, the plan doesn't protect you.
  • Myth“Without insurance, a hospitalization will ruin me.”False. In the SNS, hospitalization is free. Insurance gives you choice of doctor and hospital and less waiting time, not a right you wouldn't have.What to do: Decide based on what you value: speed and choice, or just the price.

The next step

You already have this answer. Keep going — each tool prepares the next decision.

Support from a CrediSegur manager

A CrediSegur manager follows your request with the institutions we work with. Our intermediation service has no cost for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

We add up what you would spend without insurance (consultations, exams, and emergencies in the private sector) and what you spend with insurance (the premium and copayments). We deduct the IRS from both: 15% of health expenses, up to €1,000 per family. The prices per service and the copayments are average market prices, according to a CrediSegur survey, and you can change them in «Refine assumptions». If you don't specify emergencies, we count 0.3 per person per year.
In 2025, the ASF defined a standard health insurance (Circular n.º 6/2025) to help compare: €30,000 for hospitalization, €1,000 for consultations and exams, and €300,000 for serious illnesses, among other conditions. It is not mandatory for insurers. We use these values as a reference.
Not without thinking. If you cancel and take out insurance again, you may have new waiting periods and any illnesses you have in the meantime will be excluded. Often it pays more to review the current one: change the capitals, copayments, or included people.
With ADSE, consultations and exams in the private network are already cheap. Insurance only pays off if you use the private sector a lot outside the ADSE network, or if you want high capitals for hospitalization. Choose «Yes» in the subsystem question and see the calculation.
Often yes. See if you can include the family in the group insurance, which is usually cheaper, and what happens if you change jobs: the group insurance ends when you leave.
No. The tool is informative. An insurance proposal only comes after a manager analyzes your needs, with the insurers CrediSegur works with.
Official data verified on 10/20/2026 · Sources: Diário da República, Autoridade Tributária, Segurança Social, Assembleia da República · see sources
Important note: Informative tool. The prices per act, copayments, and reference hospitalization are average market prices (source (in Portuguese): CrediSegur, preços médios de mercado (levantamento de outubro de 2026: tabelas públicas de hospitais e clínicas privadas e de redes de seguradoras)) and you can change them. The default premium is the market average (ASF, Observatório dos Seguros de Saúde (dados de 2024, publicado em agosto de 2025)). The IRS discount follows art.º 78.º-C of the CIRS (15%, up to €1,000 per household), within the global deduction limits. Coverages, capitals, copayments, waiting periods, and exclusions vary from insurance to insurance: always confirm in your policy conditions. This is not advice or an insurance proposal. CRRF – BROKERAGE, LDA (CrediSegur) is an insurance agent registered with the ASF (n.º 421571530) and a tied credit intermediary registered with the Banco de Portugal (n.º 0001290). Insurance proposals only after analyzing the client's needs.