They have a private insurance, they pay for a more fast service. Public hospital are completely free in Portugal (except when you go to the hospital without having a real emergency, then it can cost €16). A consultation at the public health clinic used to cost only €2, but since the pandemic they suspended even this cost and is free. I only use private hospitals for a faster service, because in a public hospital we may have to wait 4 hours and in a private hospital it takes 15 minutes and a specialist appointment at a public hospital that is not very urgent, we usually wait months while at a private hospital you just need to make an appointment by phone. The cost of medicines is very low in Portugal, when I bought amoxicillin (875mg) , a strong antibiotic, I paid around €3 (24 pills)
