What is the health cover for non retirement aged people?

Can anyone please help as we are totally confused, we are both 57 and will be moving to Quesada in August as full time residents. Will we be covered or do we need to take out private insurance? ( ps we do not intend to be working )

If you're moving in August you will either need private health insurance or pay to join the Valencian healthcare scheme. The private insurance doesn't cover existing conditions whilst the Valencian one does. That costs €60 per month per person.

The free state health care system would only apply if you were of retirement age in your own country or registered disabled.

There was a system of transferring your health care to Spain for a few years depending on the amount of NI contributions but the UK government has stopped this and the last date for moving abroad to take advantage of this is the end of June. No applications from 1st July this year will be accepted.

Using the private insurance scheme gives you access to the private hospitals here. The Valencian system gives you access to GPs and Spanish NHS hospitals (which really are very good).

Sorry about that.

Hi Marcliff
Can you tell us please about getting on to the Spanish system...we have been here since last August since we have had private insurance (very expensive too) We neither work as we took early retirement from our jobs (my fiance on ill health grounds) I am female & will be 60 in Jan my fiance is 55 next feb but he is registered as disabled in the UK..If the deadline date is til the end of June we would like to do this asap
Many Thanks

Forgot to mention that I am not eligible for UK state pension until 2021 ...

The Convenio Especial de Salud is available to residents in the Valencia region who cannot get state health care. Now, if your fiancee is registered disabled in UK, you can transfer healthcare across via the E121 system. You need to contact the DWP at Newcastle to get the forms completed and sent to you. I do not think you could get cover as a beneficiary as I believe this is only if you are married. You can contact the overseas health team on 0044 191 21 81999.

To get on the Valencia health scheme, this is a link to the website. It is Spanish only but if you use Google it will automatically translate:
http://www.gva.es/es/inicio/procedimien ... proc=17044

Re the deadline for the end of June. This is the same number as the Newcastle one above. It is called residual health cover however, it only gives you about 2 and half years cover based on the NI contributions you have paid in UK in the last 3 years. If you moved over last August, you may only get 18 months worth of cover if you paid NI immediately before moving over. The final date of application for this is the 30th June and forms must be processed within 28 days of that. Get it done as soon as you can to ensure you are in the deadline.
Again, give the healthcare team in Newcastle a ring. They really are very helpful and will explain everything you are entitled to. They even complete the forms for you and send them to you in Spain.

for the info Marcliff We will definetely be looking into this further..

For early retirees taking out residence after 2012 you have to have private health insurance for a year before you are eligible to join the Valencia convenio especial.

Advantage of convenio (apart from cost) is cover for pre exsisting conditions.

We are in the throes of buying a house and have come up against a number of potential scenarios
My wife is of retirement age and so will be covered but I am not
I have heard that
a- I could piggy back and be covered as a spouse as she'll be covered
b-I could buy into the National Health system in Spain for circa 40 euros
c- buy private heath which has a similar cost (does anyone know what it does cost in Spain)
Does anyone know the definitive answer please

If one member of a married couple is of pensionable age in their home country, they can transfer their health care from UK to Spain via the S1 form. The spouse also gets cover transferred as a beneficiary. This will give you full access to GPs, hospitals, consultants etc but will be liable to 40% of the cost of medication. Over pensionable age and the cost is 10% of the price up to a maximum of €8 a month.
You need to become residents here before this can happen. If you are not moving permanently, you will remain a UK resident and can only access the Spanish system for emergencies using the EHIC. To get residency, you need to show you have medical covered either by private or state (S1) insurance.

We are planning to move to Quesada.If you are resident and work in Spain and pay taxes are you entitled to free state health care?