76 year old guy needs Healthcare

If you are a UK passport holder and are over state pension age you can use your S1 healthcare to apply for residency.

Over pensionable age in your own country that has a reciprocal agreement with Spain (such as UK) and you can get state paid health cover. If you are from UK then contact the overseas health department in Newcastle. If from outside check if your country has a reciprocal agreement (all EU countries obviously do but you say you want residency so that only cover 3rd country nationals).

Cigma and Sanitas seem to get good reviews for private insurance which must cover you to at least the Spanish NHS cover with no copayments but can work out costly with pre-existing conditions. An S1 from your own country would cover you for all needs including prescription co-payments. 

Thanks for the prompt reply, yes I am a UK Passport Holder and get full Pension as well. I was not aware that an S1 was acceptable when applying for a Spanish Residency, I was under the impression that I had to register with a Spanish Health provider,(Insurance),  before I could get a residency.

Fortunately, the Spanish Goverment have changed the criteria and, nowadays, you may attach to your Non Lucrative Visa application your S1 form to fulfil the requirement of unlimited access to the spanish health care system.

You may also find this link to Age in Spain helpful in registering your S1 form with the INSS here in Spain:

https://www.ageinspain.org/post/s1-form-state-healthcare-in-spain-for-uk-pensioners

Thanks for the prompt reply, it seems too good to be true, everybody told me I needed to take out a private Healthcare Insurance for a year, after which I could move over to the Spanish Healthcare system. Do you know when the S1 became a good document to get a NL Visa ??

Unfortunately I don't have the exact date to hand but it is at least 12 months ago.

This sort of explains it. Seems like they changed their mind in about January 2022 and you can now use the completed S1 for your visa application. Previously, the UK authorities would only send it to a Spanish address but will now send it to a UK address for the purposes of a visa application and the Spanish consulate will accept it.

https://upsticks.es/s1-and-the-non-lucrative-visa-2022-update/

Definitely good news for those entitled to an S1. Prior to that you did need private health insurance whether you qualified for an S1 or not.

For the record, it's not the simple fact of reaching pensionable age which entitles you to an S1, you must also be drawing it.

This is really helpfull, thanks a million ! Now I know how to proceed and I must say, after looking at ,'Upsticks,' they seem to provide good information in a concise and simple format.