In Portugal, hospitals cannot collect emergency room fees from foreign non-resident patients before they are discharged.

A new problem has emerged in the debate on how public hospitals in Portugal will collect fees for emergency healthcare services provided to foreign patients who do not reside in the country.

Inspeção-Geral das Atividades em Saúde (IGAS) had asked hospitals to consider the possibility of charging foreign patients who do not reside in Portugal upon entering the emergency room in order to reduce uncollectible debts.

However, ULS de São José in Lisboa reported that such an application is technically not possible in the current system.

The news does not mean “all foreigners living in Portugal will pay fees”

This is the most important distinction in the file.

At the center of the debate is not the immigrants living in Portugal in general, but the use of SNS services by foreign patients who do not reside in the country.

The status of foreigners legally residing in Portugal and registered under the SNS is not the same category.

Therefore, it would be misleading to generalize the issue as "SNS is starting to collect emergency service money from foreigners."

Why did IGAS offer payment at the entrance?

The problem is that some services provided to non-resident patients cannot be collected later.

One of the recommendations made by IGAS to hospitals was to evaluate whether the fee can be collected at the entrance to the emergency department for patients who are obliged to pay.

But there is a practical problem here.

patient to hospital Since it is not yet known which tests, procedures and treatments will be applied when the patient arrives, it may not be possible to calculate the final cost of the service from the beginning.

ULS São José: Technically not possible

In its response to IGAS, ULS de São José stated that the current system is not suitable for implementing the proposed model.

A similar practical problem is expressed by the Associação Portuguesa de Administradores Hospitalares, which represents hospital administrators: it is not possible to know the total cost of treatment at the time the patient enters the emergency room.

So the discussion is only “get paid?” It's not just a question.

At what stage and through which technical system the payment will be collected is also an issue that needs to be resolved.

An uncollected amount of 1.2 million euros was brought to the agenda in the Algarve

The extent of the problem was previously brought to the agenda with data from the Algarve.

It was announced that ULS Algarve had uncollected receivables of more than 1.2 million euros in connection with the services provided to non-resident foreign patients.

Among the patients in this group, citizens of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland stood out.

However, the existence of an uncollected amount does not mean that all foreign patients do not pay.

What could happen next?

IGAS's proposal is not a new "payment at the entrance" system that has come into force nationally at this stage.

The applicability of this to hospitals was asked to be evaluated.

ULS São José's response reveals that the current technical infrastructure does not support this model.

Therefore, the next stage of the file will be whether SNS and hospitals will develop a different payment or check-out system to collect receivables from non-resident patients.

The critical point for PTNewsHub remains the same: resident foreigners should not be confused with non-resident foreigners.

Resources

Público — September 22, 2026

https://ereader.publico.pt/publico-edicao-lisboa

Diário de Notícias — 22 September 2026

https://www.dn.pt/media-geral/revista-de-imprensa-sns-sem-possibilidade-de-cobrar-a-estrangeiros-antes-da-alta-e-encomendas-com-nova-taxa

Observador — September 18, 2026

https://observador.pt/2026/09/18/turismo-de-saude-igas-quer-taxas-moderadoras-pagas-a-entrada-dos-hospitais-e-sistema-de-check-out-para-evitar-fugas-a-pagamentos/

RTP / Lusa — previous collection data in the Algarve

https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/unidade-local-de-saude-algarve-tem-12-milhoes-de-euros-por-cobrar-a-estrangeiros_n1756551