Health Insurance

Hi Michael and welcome to the forum,

As an EU citizen, does your wife qualify for an S1 from the Netherlands?  If so, this can be used to prove her right to state funded healthcare when applying for residency in Spain.  To comply with Spanish residency law, you need to apply within the first 90 days in Spain, if you plan to stay.

Your situation maybe more complex. You'd need to check whether, as a family member, you can also access Spanish state healthcare via your wife's S1 - as a Third Country National, I doubt it, but nothing to lose by asking the question.  You should also check the arrangements for yourself, as a TCN, in respect of whether your own application for residency has to be started in Australia, rather than Spain - this is the process for UK citizens, now that we have left the EU.

Kind regards, 

Kim

Hey Kim. Thanks very much for that. You've set me on a completely new path. I've asked these questions before but have had so many conflicting answers that have left me totally confused. Will check with the Netherlands embassy re my wife and we've an appointment with the Spanish consulate in Sydney next Friday so hopefully a bit clearer as we progress towards departure day. Regardless, a lot more research is in order...thanks to Google, lawyers, embassies and this forum.

But again, thanks so much for your input. MichaelP

If you end up needing private health insurance ..

My wife and I use DKV. Our annual combined cost is around 2000 Eu (ages 63/61). This seems to be about the going rate. Your costs will be significantly higher.

You should bear in mind ....

It isn't just about cost. Don't just choose the cheapest policy. When you gain Residency/Visa/TIE, your PHI will, at least for a while, become your only source of healthcare. So accessibility and quality are the important factors.

My wife became seriously ill in 2019, and DKV have been absolutely fantastic. 

BUT we have had to travel to obtain treatment and tests, mostly to the Quiron Hospital in Murcia. We have also used (I think) 8 or 9 other medical facilities in Murcia, Elche and Torrevieja. 

This seems to be quite normal. We have met numerous other people "doing the rounds" - each having different insurers.

Into the detail .... insurers may quote the various clinics and hospitals that they use, but in reality, they pick and choose exactly what services they contract for at which hospital. So if your insurer's brochure says that they use (say) Quiron or IMED hospitals/clinics, the city you have to go to depends on the medical service you need.   

We use a GP in our village (not the health centre) and she acts as the gateway into the DKV system - and she is very good at it. 

Our local GP works with DKV (which may be why our local insurance broker recommended DKV). So it seems that the most important thing is to have an insurer who works with your local GP.

We have a neighbour who uses a different insurer. Her nearest insurer-affiliated GP is 50 minutes away by car. 

Here is the DKV website (with an English language option). They have several "levels" of insurance. You generally need the top level of cover (zero co-pays) for Residency.

https://eng.dkv.es/particulares

As we get older, we generally need more healthcare, not less. So it might be an idea to consider medical access/private hospital locations when choosing where to live. Ideally get your insurer, GP and hospitals lined up.

My Mexican wife whose never lived in the UK gets the S1 like myself as my dependent, she also gets the EHIC and obtained residency here in Spain as she was married to an EU citizen. That of course was before Brexit.