What Having Two Children in Hospital Taught Us About Healthcare in Spain

The first time we truly depended on the Spanish healthcare system was when our five-year-old daughter, Emma, developed appendicitis.

Unfortunately, her condition progressed into peritonitis before surgery.

As any parent can imagine, those hours were terrifying.

Looking back, it's easy to focus on the waiting or wonder whether things could have happened differently.

Public hospitals are busy, and emergency departments have to prioritise patients based on urgency rather than arrival time.

What stayed with me wasn't the waiting.

It was what happened afterwards.

The medical team acted quickly, Emma received the treatment she needed, and she recovered well.

Our first real experience with Spain's public healthcare had already challenged many of the assumptions I arrived with.

Months later, our youngest son, Noah, began experiencing serious respiratory problems.

What we thought would be one illness became several hospital visits.

Eventually, we found ourselves navigating both private and public hospitals.

That experience taught us something we never expected.

At one point, Noah spent three days admitted to a private hospital.

Every day I waited for signs that he was improving.

Instead, I felt he was getting worse.

The doctors believed he wasn't experiencing the same respiratory condition he had suffered previously, so his treatment followed a different course.

As the days passed, nothing changed.

As a mother, you reach a moment where instinct becomes impossible to ignore.

I remember thinking:

"We can't keep waiting."

I ordered an Uber.

Picked Noah up.

And went straight to the public hospital.

Within a short time, the team there recognised that he was dealing with the same respiratory condition he had experienced before.

His treatment changed.

And, finally, so did his recovery.

That wasn't the moment I decided that public healthcare was "better."

It was the moment I realised I had judged Spain's healthcare system before truly experiencing it.

Before becoming a parent, it's easy to imagine that a hospital is about comfortable rooms, modern facilities or good food.

When your child is struggling to breathe...

None of those things matter.

You don't care whether the room looks like a hotel.

You don't care whether your bed is comfortable.

You don't care whether lunch is better in one hospital than another.

You care about one thing.

You want your child to get better.

Everything else becomes background noise.

That perspective changed the way I evaluate healthcare forever.

People often ask us whether they should have private health insurance before moving to Spain.

The answer isn't as simple as saying yes or no.

Private healthcare can be incredibly useful.

Appointments with specialists are usually faster.

Waiting lists tend to be shorter.

For families with ongoing medical conditions—or simply for peace of mind—that convenience can be worth paying for.

In our case, Noah's respiratory history makes quick access to specialists especially valuable.

But when it comes to serious emergencies, our own experience gave us enormous confidence in Spain's public hospitals.

We experienced compassionate professionals, highly skilled medical teams and excellent emergency care.

That doesn't mean every public hospital is perfect.

Or that every private hospital is the same.

It simply means our family's experience challenged everything we thought we knew before moving here.

Before moving to Spain, we lived near Boston.

Healthcare there works very differently.

In the United States, the system is largely private and extremely expensive.

One thing we noticed immediately was how warm and attentive many nurses were.

Patient communication often felt more personalised.

Protocols also seemed much more visible.

But better customer service doesn't necessarily mean better healthcare.

The two things aren't always the same.

In Spain, we sometimes found communication more direct.

Facilities were sometimes simpler.

Yet when our children truly needed medical care, we consistently felt they were in capable hands.

And that's ultimately what matters most.

If another international family asked me today whether private insurance is essential before moving to Málaga, my answer would be:

Not necessarily.

If it comfortably fits your budget, it's a wonderful complement to the public system.

It offers faster specialist appointments and additional flexibility.

But if you're worried that you can't move to Spain without expensive private insurance, our experience says otherwise.

Spain's public healthcare gave our family confidence during some of the hardest moments we've faced as parents.

And that's something I never expected to write.

Moving to another country teaches you that many assumptions don't survive real life.

I thought Spain's public healthcare would resemble what I had seen growing up.

Instead, I discovered a system that repeatedly cared for our family during moments when we needed it most.

It wasn't perfect.

No healthcare system is.

But perfection isn't what parents look for when their child is ill.

They look for competence.

They look for compassion.

They look for people who know what they're doing.

Thankfully, that's exactly what we found.

Before moving abroad, we spend countless hours comparing salaries, schools, neighbourhoods and the cost of living.

Very few of us stop to imagine what happens if our child suddenly needs emergency medical care.

We hope that day never comes.

For our family, it did.

And if there's one thing we took away from those hospital stays, it's this:

Sometimes the biggest surprises about a new country aren't the ones you read about online.

They're the ones you discover when life becomes unexpectedly difficult.

For us, Spain's healthcare system became one of those surprises—and one we're deeply grateful for.