Medical Services for temporary living in Quesada

Hi, I know this has been mentioned before but I am still unsure of the procedure. My husband and I are going to be living in Quesada for around 1 year renting accommodation prior to purchasing a property. (As wisely suggested by the members). I am 56 and he is 62 years old. Do we require to have private medical insurance or does the EHIC cover us for doctor and hospital appointments. I have no medical conditions but my husband has medication for high blood pressure. Thanking you all in advance. We are in the process of getting as much information together as possible before moving out.

ann wrote:Hi, I know this has been mentioned before but I am still unsure of the procedure. My husband and I are going to be living in Quesada for around 1 year renting accommodation prior to purchasing a property. (As wisely suggested by the members). I am 56 and he is 62 years old. Do we require to have private medical insurance or does the EHIC cover us for doctor and hospital appointments. I have no medical conditions but my husband has medication for high blood pressure. Thanking you all in advance. We are in the process of getting as much information together as possible before moving out.

Hi ann,
You may already know but unless you are staying for 6 months or less in a 12 month period, you are 'legally' obliged to apply for residencia.

Therefore if you want to use your EHIC as your emergency health cover you would need to only be in Spain 6 months or less (and classed as Non-Resident) because over 6 months you would normally have to be resident.

You could possibly use your EHIC for the first 6 months (taking 6 months or more medication with you from the UK) and then become resident, giving you time to decide if you want to stay, or go back to the uk for 6 months and come out to Spain again for another 6 months.

The EHIC is limited though, in that it is really for emergencies and it would not get you home to the UK in a medical emergency, if you were not able to get home by yourself like separate health insurance cover would. However, a separate, more affordable, annual insurance policy is usually limited to up to 33 days 'holiday' at any one time (which we have as holiday home owners!).

The other option is the private health care policy, which is expensive from what our members have said on here, but should cover everything.
Health cover for non retirement aged people

There is information here about the EHIC (including how to access Spanish healthcare) if you haven't seen it already:
UK European Health Insurance card

Hope this helps.

I'm sure some of our members will have more first hand knowledge on this subject.

Jan

Hi Jan, thanks again for all the information. I will start pricing private medical insurance for myself and my husband. I think this website is fantastic and every night I am on it reading all the questions and answers. It is a minefield of information. The only topic which is given me nightmares is about 'cockroaches' but I will make sure I have my 'Oro' spray as soon as I arrive.