Spain healthcare

Officially, no. You need an S1 from DWP at Newcastle to transfer onto the Spanish health system, and you'll only get that when you're in receipt of the state retirement pension. No harm in asking DWP, though.

You should only be issued residencia if you can prove you've got health cover which, if you're not in the health system by virtue of an S1, means having an acceptable form of private health insurance.

I started by saying officially. That's because some health centres will allow people to register with them and will issue temporary SIP cards. I suggest you ask at your local centro medico and see what they say.

hi Jim, wonder if you can help, we are residents but dont currently have health cover, we want to go onto the convenio especial and pay the 90 euro a month, however our spanish translator has told us that it will cost 240 euro a month and my husband should become self employed, this would be costly and not a path we wish to travel.   we retired early due to medical grounds (57) but he wasnt claiming disability when we lived in UK (two years here now) what is the process for going onto the convenio especial? appreciate your help, I will then be able to tell our Spanish lady what we need and how to get it. Can we choose which doctor we can see or is it just the local health centre?  We live near Alicante so the scheme is here. Many thanks in advance J 

Hi Jeanette

It sounds like your translator is getting confused and giving you the cost to pay into the social security system.

You can only go on the convenio especial if you've been resident here for twelve months. Some people take this to mean that you need to have had residencia for twelve months - I disagree - Valencia don't say that you need a residencia certificate.

The cost isn't even €90 - it's €60 if you're aged less than 65. If you're 65 or over it jumps up to €157. You will however have to pay for any prescriptions.

Once you're in the system you can ask to be taken on at any doctor's surgery and, if there are several doctors, ask for the one you prefer. They're not obliged to take you on, but I've not yet heard of anyone being refused.

The following web page in English, with links to the application form and direct debit mandate, which you can fill in online then print, on a quick look seems to still be topical:

http://learn-aprender.com/groups/the-convenio-especial-buy-in-to-state-healthcare-in-spain/

This is the Valencian 'what's it all about, Alfie?' web page, again with links to the forms:

http://www.gva.es/es/inicio/procedimientos?id_proc=17044&version=amp

If you're using Google Chrome as your browser, you can right-click a blank area on the page and select the option to translate it. It won't be a perfect translation, but should be reasonable enough to understand.

As usual Jim great information

Regards

Norma

Thank you so much :) have a good weekend - jeanette