732.32 euros a day: what a Canary hospital bills when nobody is covering you

What these prices are — and what they are not

The most important figure is not in the headline: for a registered resident with a tarjeta sanitaria and Social Security entitlement, a day in hospital costs zero euros — nothing is charged at the desk in the public network. The only routine out-of-pocket charge is on pharmacy medication: under Real Decreto-ley 11/2026, pensioners generally pay 10 per cent and working-age insured 40 to 60 per cent.

The price list is a different thing. Article 1.1 of Decreto 81/2009 of 16 June names two groups: patients who are not Social Security beneficiaries — and those who are, but where a third party bears the cost. In practice that means a motor liability insurer, an employer's accident insurer or a foreign institution. The list is therefore, as a rule, an invoice sent to somebody else.

The figures, as of 4 September 2026

After the one per cent rise, hospital care stands at €732.32 for a day of stay, €2,751.46 for intensive care, €249.11 for an emergency attendance and €150.07 for a first consultation. Primary care is far cheaper: €72.71 for a first consultation, €29.12 for a nursing consultation. That last distinction matters: a nursing home visit is a separate line four times dearer, €116.44.

How a day is counted

The counting rules at the head of Annex I were left untouched. A day of stay means, under point 1.2, remaining in the centre "for a period exceeding 12 hours" — emergency departments included. Arrive at 10 p.m. and leave at 7 a.m. and no daily rate is triggered. Day hospital is billed at 50 per cent (point 1.3), home hospitalisation at 35 per cent (1.4). The daily rate covers the room, food, medication, treatment and basic diagnostics, not the separately listed items.

Under point 1.6 a first consultation is only one where you are new to that department or have not attended for more than 18 months — and it includes all tests in the first 15 days.

The sentence that decides who pays

Between "your insurer pays" and "you pay" lies one paragraph of article 1.1. In the original: "cuando el paciente no facilite los datos del tercero obligado para su correcta facturación, el gasto asistencial será a su cargo" — when the patient does not supply the details of the liable third party, the cost of care is charged to the patient.

Being insured is therefore not enough; the insurer has to be nameable — company, policy number, accident report, registration. The rule catches anyone whose case involves a third party. The next paragraph goes further: in accidents involving an uninsured or stolen vehicle, the driver and those passengers "who knew the circumstances of the theft or lack of insurance and occupied the vehicle voluntarily" bear their own medical costs.

Road accidents have their own price list

Annex II applies where a framework agreement is in play. Newly negotiated is the Convenio Marco 2026–2029 between the SCS, UNESPA and the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros. These prices apply retroactively from 1 January 2026.

For 2026: €766 per day of stay, €1,534 per day in intensive care, €324 per injured person for first assistance without admission. A day of stay is counted differently here than in Annex I — what matters is presence at 00:00. Rarely quoted: Annex II sets a ceiling for the sole driver of a vehicle, €11,664 for a car and €3,900 for a motorcycle.

Who really pays nothing

With the European Health Insurance Card "you have the same rights to healthcare as citizens insured in that country, but also the same obligations", says the Spanish administration on its Punto de Acceso General. It is valid only within the public system, however. For British nationals Brexit changed nothing for the worse: the Ministry of Health points to the UK EHIC or the GHIC and records that the cost falls "to Spain or to the United Kingdom, which reimburses the expense to the Spanish state".

The counterpart, also verbatim: visitors who hold neither a Spanish card nor a document proving cover "may be charged by the Spanish health system for the services provided". This is where a table in the official gazette becomes a letter in your postbox. How the SCS handles such cases day to day is not documented; we could not establish it.