How to apply for Form S1 for reciprocal Healthcare

To be clear, we are NOT getting free health care, the NHS is billed in full for our treatment on a per patient per treatment basis. Medicines are free or charged at 10% depending on income.

The continuation of the S1 is enshrined in the legally binding withdrawal agreement and is not contingent on any reciprocation.

In any case with the NHS being a residency based service those legally residing there have an automatic right to care just the same as any British citizen so in fact there is nothing to reciporocate. If anything Spain is is already getting the better deal because being free the NHS of course do not backcharge.

Free at the point of service, as it is in the UK.  

My post is about a change in HOW to apply for the S1.  The Spanish system doesn't cover all prescription costs, but the 'what' is covered in Jim's guide.

I would also be interested where, in the Withdrawal Agreement, it specifies  that Healthcare is protected. 

And whilst also irrelevant to my post, I'd also like to know your source for stating that the UK does not 'backcharge'.

Kind regards, 

Kim

Healthcare is only covered in the draft withdrawal agreement - not in the formal agreement passed by the EU parliament, and nor is is covered in the law passed in the UK paliament.

I believe Article 18 (k) (ii) covers it when it speaks of "comprehensive sickness insurance" which is what the S1 evidences. 

If you're looking for actual mention of the S1 though then you won't find it because it's simply a document for the bureaucrats to shuffle around.

Essentially it all comes back to EC No 883/2004 which is the directive on the co-ordination of social security systems which the WA has reaffirmed.

When I said UK doesn't backcharge I was meaning for Spanish who are entitled to NHS care by virtue of legal residency and working and paying NI for whom health care will be free at the point of delivery just as it would be for any indigenous British citizen.

True they can backcharge for pensioners who have moved there in retirement however I'm sure you'll find that it's a very small number who fall into that category and presupposes that the NHS take the necessary steps to backcharge which by all accounts they seem somewhat lackadaisical in doing.

A little stale now but the info here will give you a flavour of the imbalance of the arrangement.

Article 18 (k) (ii) is from the draft agreement, not from that passed into law.

EC No 883/2004 only applies to citizens of member states, which the UK no longer is.

here and it's reference to the imbalance in recovery between our two countries totally ignores one crucial point. 

How many UK citizens retire to Spain? - a lot.

How many Spanish citizens retire to the UK? - sod all.

Of course there's an imbalance, and it's a big one. 

Hi Jim,

Thanks, you saved me a task.  Of course the NHS recharges the EU (and the EEA and Switzerland) for providing reciprocal healthcare for their citizens in the UK - and the imbalance in recharge values is precisely for the reasons you've described. 

A friend of mine works for a Primary Care Trust in the UK, so I already knew that trusts and health boards receive incentive payments for passing on the details of patients covered by the S1 and EHIC schemes, as the costs cannot be recovered if such reports aren't made.  However, another issue is that clinicians have no formal role in the cost recovery process and, perhaps even more importantly, don't believe it should be a part of their clinical role.  I think it's going to take more than Brexit to change their mindset.

Kind regards,

Kim

Pensioners throughout Spain pay 10%, dependent on their income except in the Comunidad Valenciana where most medication is free.

Yes, I was referring to prescription charges.   I realise that I didn’t make that clear.   I do know how it works as I don’t pay for my medication that is on prescription.

No, I did say ‘dependent on their income’.