Portugal has a public healthcare system organised around health centres (centros de saúde) where all Portuguese residents can see a doctor by paying the co-payment (€4.50 for a GP and €7 for a specialist in 2017). Care in public hospitals is also free once the co-payment has been made. Medicines, for their part, receive a state contribution of 15% to 90%.
To register with the Serviço Nacional de Saúde, you sign up either at the loja do cidadão or with the Segurança Social, providing proof of identity, proof of address and, for French nationals, the S1 form (issued by the CPAM, MSA, RSI or your pension fund).

Once registered with the National Health Service and issued a health card, the insured person is assigned a referring doctor and can no longer choose their practitioner. To see another doctor or obtain a second opinion, they must pay for a new consultation at the full rate. Being treated in the public system often means enduring long queues, and the quality of care is unfortunately not always there. For good-quality care, you need to see doctors working in the private sector and go to private clinics, where both the care and the reception are far better. This quality comes at a price, however: a private GP consultation costs €70 on average, and a specialist visit can cost up to €200.