Getting Healthcare in Paraguay
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Spain on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Spain to Paraguay · Access to healthcare
Two systems sit side by side and you reach them differently. The public network run by the health ministry is free by statute - consultations, procedures and the medicines on the national essential list - and the migration law forbids refusing care to any foreigner because their migration status is irregular. The contributory system run by the social security institute is reached through employment: the employer registers the worker, and for a foreign worker the institute asks for the migration card alongside the home-country identity document. Contributions are 9 per cent from the worker and 14 per cent from the employer, and family members are enrolled by the insured person rather than by themselves.
At a glance
- Cost of public health services
- Free
Under Ley N° 5.099/2013, as stated by the health ministry
- Medicines
- Free where they are on the national essential medicines list
- Access with irregular migration status
- Cannot be refused
- Social security contributions
- 9% worker, 14% employer
General regime, from the social security institute's published contribution table
- Route into social security
- Employment
We found no published voluntary or self-employed affiliation route; see the notes
- Documents for a foreign worker
- Home-country identity document and the migration card
- Contribution by pensioners
- 6% of the pension
Requirements
- For the public network: nothing but presence - access may not be refused on grounds of irregular migration status, and the services are free
- For social security cover: an employment relationship, with the employer registering the worker within three working days in urban areas or ten in rural ones
- For a foreign worker being registered: the identity document of the country of origin and the migration card issued by the migration directorate
- For family members: enrolment by the insured person, with the relevant certificate - birth for children, marriage for a spouse - and, for a spouse, no income of their own and no separate taxpayer or employer registration
In detail
The public network is free and does not ask your status
Two rules meet here. The health ministry states that its services are free under Ley 5.099/2013, and that medicines on the national essential list are supplied without charge; it runs an anti-corruption complaints channel specifically for staff who ask for payment. The migration law says separately that access to health may not be denied to any foreigner because their status is irregular. Neither rule is conditional on residency, insurance or reciprocity.
Social security comes through a job
The contributory system is employment-based. The employer registers the worker on starting, deducts 9 per cent and pays 14 per cent, and the institute inspects employers to check it happens. For a foreign worker the institute asks for the home-country identity document and the migration card, so the contributory route and the migration route are joined: no residency, no card, no registration. A worker whose employer has not registered them can ask the institute to do it, and can report an unregistered employer.
Family cover is enrolled by the insured person
Children, a spouse, a partner and in defined circumstances parents are enrolled as beneficiaries by the insured person, who is the only one who needs to attend. A spouse must have no income of their own, must not be a taxpayer, a public official, a registered employer or an active pensioner of another fund. Children born abroad need a birth certificate endorsed by the Paraguayan consulate in the country of origin and legalised by the foreign ministry.
What this is not
Neither rule described here is private health insurance, and neither is a substitute for it. Nothing we read at the migration directorate requires a visitor or a residency applicant to hold health insurance, which differs from Argentina and Colombia; that is an absence in the pages read rather than advice to travel uninsured.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Spain
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«El acceso a los beneficios de la salud y la atención sanitaria, no podrán ser negados a ningún extranjero como consecuencia de su situación migratoria irregular, debiendo brindársele la misma atención sin discriminación alguna.»Our translation - not official
Access to health benefits and healthcare may not be denied to any foreigner as a consequence of their irregular migration status, and the same care must be provided without any discrimination.
The article is unconditional on its face - unlike Argentina's equivalent, which since 2025 ends by handing the conditions to the health ministry. Nothing in Ley 6984 delegates the conditions of this right to another authority.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The migration directorate. Administers residency under Ley 6984/2022 and issues its own resolutions under arts. 78, 79 and 82. Publishes the law as a PDF booklet, per-route requirement pages, the migration fee schedule and a resolutions index.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the gazette: it reproduces Ley 6984 but did not make it. Its requirement pages restate the law and sometimes diverge from it - art. 100's fee figures against the schedule in force is the live example, and the schedule wins. Cannot be cited for the SUACE investor threshold, which is the industry ministry's, nor for the tax consequences of a migration status. The law booklet is a justified-column PDF, so extracted text breaks words across lines.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Se recuerda a la poblacion que los servicios del Ministerio de Salud Publica y Bienestar Social son gratuitos, sobre la base de las disposiciones de la Ley N° 5.099/2013.»Our translation - not official
The public is reminded that the services of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare are free, on the basis of the provisions of Law No. 5,099/2013.
The ministry's page carries no accents on this sentence; it is quoted as published. It is the ministry's statement of the law rather than the text of the law: we did not read Ley 5.099/2013 itself, and the ministry links to a PDF of it that we did not fetch.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The health ministry, which runs the non-contributory public system.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 5.099/2013: it summarises the law, and its pages strip accents, so quotations taken from them are not the statute. Says nothing about waiting times, capacity or quality of care.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«El Estado asegurará el acceso igualitario de los inmigrantes y sus familias a derechos tales como: trabajo, seguridad social, salud, educación, justicia, cultura y recreación, entre otros.»Our translation - not official
The State shall ensure equal access for immigrants and their families to rights such as work, social security, health, education, justice, culture and recreation, among others.
About this source
The migration directorate. Administers residency under Ley 6984/2022 and issues its own resolutions under arts. 78, 79 and 82. Publishes the law as a PDF booklet, per-route requirement pages, the migration fee schedule and a resolutions index.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the gazette: it reproduces Ley 6984 but did not make it. Its requirement pages restate the law and sometimes diverge from it - art. 100's fee figures against the schedule in force is the live example, and the schedule wins. Cannot be cited for the SUACE investor threshold, which is the industry ministry's, nor for the tax consequences of a migration status. The law booklet is a justified-column PDF, so extracted text breaks words across lines.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«En caso de que el empleado sea de nacionalidad extranjera, adjuntar C. I. civil de su país de origen y Carnet de Migraciones.»Our translation - not official
Where the employee is of foreign nationality, attach the civil identity card from the country of origin and the Migration Card.
The migration card is asked for at registration, which makes contributory cover follow residency rather than employment alone.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The contributory social insurance institute. Publishes registration requirements and a workers-and-employers question booklet.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The booklet is undated and cites 2010 and 2013 resolutions, so its contribution table can be cited as what IPS publishes, never as the rate confirmed in force. Says nothing about migration requirements, and nothing about the non-contributory public health system, which is the health ministry's.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Régimen General | | 9% | 14%»Our translation - not official
General regime | | 9% | 14%
Worker's share first, employer's second. Domestic service is on the same 9 and 14; pensioners contribute 6% of the pension.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The contributory social insurance institute. Publishes registration requirements and a workers-and-employers question booklet.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The booklet is undated and cites 2010 and 2013 resolutions, so its contribution table can be cited as what IPS publishes, never as the rate confirmed in force. Says nothing about migration requirements, and nothing about the non-contributory public health system, which is the health ministry's.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«El empleador está obligado a comunicar la entrada de sus trabajadores a la iniciación de sus tareas.»Our translation - not official
The employer is obliged to notify the entry of its workers when they begin their duties.
The institute gives three working days in urban areas and ten in rural ones, and says that where an employer fails to register staff the worker may apply to be registered directly, provided the employer is itself registered and the employment relationship is current.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The contributory social insurance institute. Publishes registration requirements and a workers-and-employers question booklet.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The booklet is undated and cites 2010 and 2013 resolutions, so its contribution table can be cited as what IPS publishes, never as the rate confirmed in force. Says nothing about migration requirements, and nothing about the non-contributory public health system, which is the health ministry's.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Jubilados y Pensionados del IPS 6% del Haber Jubilatorio»Our translation - not official
IPS pensioners and beneficiaries: 6% of the pension
The double space before del is the publisher's. Contributing does not stop at retirement; it changes rate and base.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The contributory social insurance institute. Publishes registration requirements and a workers-and-employers question booklet.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The booklet is undated and cites 2010 and 2013 resolutions, so its contribution table can be cited as what IPS publishes, never as the rate confirmed in force. Says nothing about migration requirements, and nothing about the non-contributory public health system, which is the health ministry's.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The social security institute's question-and-answer booklet is undated on its face. Its file name suggests 2018 and it cites resolutions from 2010 and 2013, so the contribution percentages are stated here as the institute's published figures rather than as rates confirmed against a current instrument.
We looked for a voluntary or self-employed affiliation route to the social security institute on its portal and in the booklet and did not find one. A resident who is not employed appears to be left with the free public network or private cover; that is what the pages we read show, not a statement that no such route exists.
The health ministry's statement links to a PDF of Ley N° 5.099/2013. We did not fetch it, so this page rests on the ministry's own account of the statute and not on the statute's text.
We did not read anything on waiting times, hospital capacity or the division of services between Asunción and the interior, and this page makes no claim about the quality of care.
- administersLey N° 6.984 de Migraciones (texto publicado por la Dirección Nacional de Migraciones)
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (Paraguay)
About this source
The migration directorate. Administers residency under Ley 6984/2022 and issues its own resolutions under arts. 78, 79 and 82. Publishes the law as a PDF booklet, per-route requirement pages, the migration fee schedule and a resolutions index.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the gazette: it reproduces Ley 6984 but did not make it. Its requirement pages restate the law and sometimes diverge from it - art. 100's fee figures against the schedule in force is the live example, and the schedule wins. Cannot be cited for the SUACE investor threshold, which is the industry ministry's, nor for the tax consequences of a migration status. The law booklet is a justified-column PDF, so extracted text breaks words across lines.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersPrestaciones, medicamentos e insumos del listado básico son gratuitos en servicios del MSP
Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social (Paraguay)
About this source
The health ministry, which runs the non-contributory public system.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of Ley 5.099/2013: it summarises the law, and its pages strip accents, so quotations taken from them are not the statute. Says nothing about waiting times, capacity or quality of care.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- administersPreguntas y respuestas de los trabajadores y empleadores
Instituto de Previsión Social (Paraguay)
About this source
The contributory social insurance institute. Publishes registration requirements and a workers-and-employers question booklet.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The booklet is undated and cites 2010 and 2013 resolutions, so its contribution table can be cited as what IPS publishes, never as the rate confirmed in force. Says nothing about migration requirements, and nothing about the non-contributory public health system, which is the health ministry's.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source