Portugal is similar to Norway in that it is a very centralized health care system. Most individuals in Portugal are insured by the state-run, single-payer National Health System. However, 25% of the population is insured through an occupation based insurance scheme. These occupation based schemes include most government, military and telecommunication workers.

Financing of the health care system is generated from general tax revenues. Health care spending accounts for 13% of government revenues. The National Health System (NHS) has an annual global budget, but it is often exceeded by a significant amount. Individuals in the occupation-based insurance schemes pay a premium of about 1% of their salary.