Healthcare in Porto Alegre

Brazil has a universal public system, SUS, and a large private market. Porto Alegre is a hospital city. The ceiling is high. The floor is a queue.

SUS

Register at a UBS (unidade básica) near your house with CPF and comprovante. That clinic is your GP. From there you get referrals, vaccines, and the slow path into specialists.

Emergency rooms (UPA / hospital pronto-socorro) cannot turn you away in a real emergency. “Real” is the fight.

Hospital de Clínicas (HCPA) and other public and university hospitals do serious medicine. You do not walk in for a same-week dermatologist.

Planos de saúde

A plano de saúde is a private plan. Young and healthy: a few hundred reais. Older, or with a preexisting condition: much more, and they will try to wait you out.

New plans have carência (waiting periods). Emergencies often open in 24 hours. Many procedures wait 180 days. Childbirth often waits 300 days. Keep international cover until those clocks run out.

Unimed Porto Alegre is the local giant. Bradesco, SulAmérica, and others sell national plans. Check whether Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Mãe de Deus, and Santa Casa are in network. For many people, Moinhos is the reason they pay.

Employers on CLT often include a plano. PJ people buy their own.

Pharmacies

Panvel, São João, Droga Raia. Many drugs that are prescription-only in the US sit behind a counter here. Antibiotics still need a recipe. Bring your chronic meds in the original boxes when you move, plus the prescription, plus a plan for the Brazilian brand name.

Mental health

Public psychologists exist and are stretched. Private therapy in Portuguese is widely available. English-speaking therapists exist in a small circle. Ask in expat chats and at the universities. Psychiatrists who speak English cluster near Moinhos.

If you are on a visa

Nomad visas want international insurance. That is not the same as a local plano. A local plano is what you want once you have a CPF and a year ahead of you.

Dentists

Good, plentiful, cheaper than the North Atlantic. Walk around Auxiliadora. Read Google with the usual salt. Get a cleaning in the first month.