Porto Belo, Itapema's little brother
I'll be honest: Porto Belo grows right behind Itapema. It's the little brother —it doesn't have the size yet—, but they're so close and so connected that you can assume almost everything that applies to Itapema also applies to Porto Belo. In practice, you sort out your private healthcare as if you lived across the street.
If you want to see it as a scale, from biggest to smallest it goes roughly like this:
- Balneário Camboriú and Itajaí: the big private hospitals, the really heavy stuff.
- Itapema: a ton of private clinics and plans for everyday needs.
- Porto Belo: for now, just a few private clinics.
And watch out, this moves fast. As the region grows, things even out. I wouldn't be surprised if within a year a project for a big private hospital shows up, and ends up right in Porto Belo: on the border with its big brother. Why here? Because Itapema has more people, but Porto Belo has more land.
But if you made it this far, what you're really looking for —all the detailed info on how the plans work, which one suits you and how much they cost— is in this post: How to choose your health plan.
