Healthcare System (Portugal)
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Portugal provides universal healthcare to all its residents, including the unemployed and illegal immigrants. There are also health insurance schemes that provide coverage for specific sectors, both public and private. Citizens can also opt for private health insurance schemes. The system providing healthcare in Portugal is called Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS), managed by the Ministry of Health, and is mainly funded through general taxation, but a third of its funding comes from the private sector such as out-of-pocket payments via co-funding or direct payment by the patient.
Primary care in Portugal is delivered through a combination of public and private healthcare providers, with the National Health Service (NHS) primarily offering primary and acute general and specialized hospital care. While dental consultations, diagnostic services, renal dialysis, and rehabilitation services are mostly offered by private healthcare providers, these services are often funded by the government under contractual agreements with the NHS. Secondary and tertiary care is mainly provided in hospitals organized into Hospital Centres based on geographical location.
Portugal's main statistical authority is the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), responsible for the production and dissemination of official statistics that ensure the supervision and the technical and scientific coordination of the National Statistical System.
