This is something very new, and is of interest to all of us who are legal and registered for tax purposes in Spain. Do not believe all the negative coverage in the local English press about the new healthcare rules in Spain, if you are legally registered as a fiscal resident of Spain, you are now entitled to a social security number and SIP card (providing your income is less than 100k a year).
The new law gives EU residents in Spain (regardless of age) the same rights as Spanish citizens. To prove the point my husband and I downloaded Form TA1 from the government website, filled it in and presented it along with the necessary paperwork to our local TGSS office. We walked out 15 minutes later with a Spanish social security number.
We went straight to the local health centre, handed them the TGSS form and a copy of our up to date padron and passport, and were immediately issued with a provisional SIP card, with the promise that the permanent plastic version would be ready for collection before Christmas.
We often wondered why we had bothered to do everything legally when we moved to Spain in 2008, as no-one else seemed to bother, now it seems we are getting the reward for doing everything by the book.
By the way,we retired early, and still have several years to go before we reach state pension age, so this change in the law is an incredible benefit to us. We pay for private health care, but there are numerous exclusions on the policy due to pre-existing conditions, so potentially we could have faced serious problems without state health cover.My husband's company pension was taxed in the UK, but now we are fiscally resident in Spain we fall below the tax threshold, so for us it's better in more ways than one to be legal.
that's such brilliant news!! I was hoping someone would do this & succeed :clap2:
I suspect a lot of people who have been here for years will be kicking themselves that they haven't registered soon enough or done tax returns & so on - well done you!
I don't suppose you have a link for the form? I can put it on the FAQs then
Mrs J and I already have health card/soc sec numbers but as she finished work a couple of years ago and I did a couple of months ago our health cover will stop at the end of this month.
Anybody got any idea how we sort that out? Presumably we cut into this process at some point.
We are tax resident here and earn somewhat less than 100,000
You should be able to apply using the ' Solicitud de Reconocimiento del derecho a la Asistencia Sanitaria de la Seguridad Social '.
Obtainable from the INEM/SEPE office. Once completed & an appointment made, assuming you are entitled ( It would only be too much income which would prevent that) you will receive a ' Documento acreditativo del derecho a asistencia sanitaria ' which you take to the centro salud for renewal / registration.
yes you had to have been legally registered, as in residencia before April 24th 2012...if you haven't got your residencia before that date, you will have to jump through hoops to get one!
From now on to obtain a residencia you will have to prove that you have sufficient means to be able to support yourself in Spain and not become a burden on the state. You will also have to prove that you have sufficient private medical insurance
Husband and I, both retired early, tax residents etc. We both have a SS number, and we have the orange cards. They are chip and pin cards. On the back it says Junta de Andalucia, Consejería de salud and Tarjeta Sanitaria.
Our neighbour who works as a secretary at the local ´hospital´ (a kind of out patients hospital) checked about 5 years ago and said we had no NHS health cover, so since then we have paid into the private system.
Any ideas as to what we can do to find out if we are covered?
I thought the new rules said folk had to be able to ´support themselves´ with an income and medical cover? We renewed our residencia´s 2 years ago, we have the large sheet of paper one.
Where can we find the new rules from 1st September?:ranger:
OH has been looking on the net, he thinks he has found the info so Wednesday morning we will head off to the SS office, so fingers crossed - we could spend the money we save on a new car
As I have had it explained to me, nothing much has changed.
Ex-pats are treated exactly as though they were Spanish nationals rolleyes.
That is, if they are below the 'poverty' line then they can go "sin recurso" and get FREE health care. In all other cases, they must pay into the system to get anything - whether via a UK pension or by working in Spain and paying SS contributions.
Ex-pats who have retired early and are not working in Spain get NOTHING - even under the 'new' ruling. I know people quote an income figure of 100,000 euros per year but who the heck earns that much???
I still think it depends on who you ask - it is all as clear as mud even for the Spanish officials.
I have been this morning at the Marbella Seguridad Social Office
I think it is not so easy to get the Tarjeta Sanitaria .....
first the ask me, if I live with somebody or alone !!
1. certificado de no cobrar pension ni tener asistencia sanitaria de mi pais( which is Austria)
2. certificado de la agencia tributaria de mi pais de no tener rentas sujetas a tributacion...
this is the latest information at least here in Marbella...it is possible in a other
region of spain the way to receive the health card its easier..
& that is what I was told. i obtained both, made an appointment at which I was then told that all that was required was the
A)letter stating that I had no entitlement to healthcare in the UK & was not in receipt of a pension or any benefits.
B) residents certificate + passport to back it up
C) Completed 'reconocimiento etc; form
D) Marriage cert; childrens full birth certs; if adding beneficiaries
There was no requirement to show any income tax form ,even though we had them.
Actually they cannot legally ask you this question as an EU resident . They did not ask me , only for A above; which in the UK, is called a 'letter of legislation ' & is available in any language.
I asked the question of the EU legal advisors & was told that it is illegal to ask a question of an EU permanent resident , that would not be asked of a Spanish national & therefore they cannot ask whether you have income from another country.If I remember correctly the rules covering this are EU directive 883/4
I'm so confused. I just moved to Spain, obtained my NIE, am working and will be registering for SS this week. I've been told by my boss that this will entitle me to full health care in Spain and that I just need to register with a doctor etc. Is this accurate?
Yes!! As long as you have an employment contract!!!! I have to be honest, I havent read thru this thread, but I'm sure it applies to those who have lived in Spain prior to the changes?????
People who were registered as Spanish residents prior to 24th April 2012 and do not have entitlement to state healthcare paid for by the UK, (e.g. as a UK state pensioner) may now find they can register for the national health service in Spain as residents. If you think this may apply to you, then speak with your local INSS office to check your entitlement. Your local office can be found at www.segsocial.es
Which I think merely confirms what we already know, but...
Those who do not have access to Spanish state-run healthcare by any other means should shortly be able to pay into a nation-wide Convenio Especial (Special Agreement). Contact your local health authority for further information, including how to register.
This certainly sounds very encouraging but I wonder if anyone on this forum could help with the specific circumstances affecting my wife and I.
We purchased a second home in Spain in 2004 at which time we obtained a NIE and registered on the Padron. Since then we have paid all local taxes and I think of more relevance the Non Residents Tax.
Since 2004 we have both become pensioners in all senses of the word.
We are currently resident in the UK and obviously that is where we receive our healthcare. Our Doctor is very accommodating and provides us with up to 3 months of prescriptions at a time for our increasingly lengthy stays in Spain. (They will amount to almost 5 months this year.)
Whilst we are in Spain we rely on the EH1C for emergency cover and thankfully, so far, have not needed to use it. However given the increasing length of our stays this is probably a bit of a stretch and not what it was intended for. However because of previous medical conditions (hence the ongoing prescriptions) private medical insurance is prohibitively expensive.
So my question is this. Would we be entitled to a SIP card under the new rules even though we are non residents. Does paying the Non residents Tax along with the NIE give us a fiscal presence in Spain.
My concern is that during one of our stays we might need medical treatment that is not considered an emergency and also that the use of the EH1C for such lengthy stays could be called into question.
As an example of my worries is the recent experience of a friend on a 2 week holiday visit. He was stung by a wasp and went in to anaphylactic shock. He was sent to the new hospital in Denia by the local doctor and despite the EH1C Card the hospital demanded the immediate payment of 149 Euros before any treatment was given. It would appear that one medicos emergency could be another's routine illness LOL
your friend should NOT have been charged at all - did he have his passport with him as well though? if not, that might have been it - they would want to see proof that the EHIC was his
as pensioners, if you were to become resident in Spain, you could use S1 forms to take advantage of the reciprocal agreement with the UK & your healthcare here would be paid by the UK - if you're here less than 90 days at a time your EHIC should be fine though
only residents can have SIP cards though
btw - unless you are resident you aren't supposed to be on the padrón
Many thanks for that. Reassuring to know we are covered by the EH1C. My friend certainly had his passport but all to no avail. I suspect it is hard to be insistent about your entitlements when you are rolling on the floor in agony LOL
Interesting to note what you say about the padrón. Here is what the EYEONSPAIN website says.
'Anybody who owns a property in Spain should register, whether they live here permanently or not.'
All the other websites are either delightfully vague or say it is for residents. However they do not specifically mention long term non residents and property owners such as ourselves. What they all stress is the need to be on the padrón to interact with any government body.
On balance I think you are correct and we should not be on the padrón . However when renewing we have never been asked to prove our residency and of course it is in the interest of the Ayuntamiento to have us registered as this entitles them to more resources from central government. The more the merrier as they say.
Just this last year though, they removed thousands from the padron to clear up just this sort of mess! Many had to reapply because they had been wrongly removed.
Many, many, many people don't bother to de-register from the residencia of from the padron when they return to the UK and it leaves the town hall in a big mess - most of it is of our own making (and articles in places like eyeonspain who should know better!!!)
We went to the Social Security office, it helped a friend of ours works there. Our details were changed on the computer and we have the forms to take to the medical centre tomorrow to register with a Doctor there. He said if we have any problems get them to ring him at his office.
It will be lovely to save over 2,000€ a year on health cover.
We went to the medical center this morning- they wanted a copy of the empadriamento (excuse the spelling!) which we had left at the Social Security office the day before, so we went back to the Town Hall, the computers were ´down´ so had a coffee and went back 30 min later and got our forms. Back to the medical center and handed over all the forms and were told to go back on Friday for the paperwork.:clap2: The lady said all was ok.
I will get all the moneysworth out of my last 2 months private cover before it runs out at the end of the year
Many thanks original poster for letting us know the new situation :clap2::clap2: A gold star to you :cheer2
just a point - most private medical insurers want 2 months notice to cancel......so cancel now!!
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