Talk Quesada forum

Whn my wife and I move to Guardamar del Segura in 2014 after taking early retirement, we both received Residual S1 Forms (remember them) which allowed us to access the Valencian health care system, including prescriptions, which we had to pay a percentage of.



When my wife reached retirement age she received 2 new S1 forms, one for her as a pensionista and one for me as a dependent relative. This went fine and went even better when we discovered that we now received our prescriptions for free!

UNTIL...

This yer i reached retirement age and received yet anotherr S1 form as a pensionista. So I went to see the nice lady at Guardamar town hall and told me I couuld keep using my SIP card until a new one was Issued - they would send me a letter which I would get in about a month and should take to the health centre in Guardamar to receive my new one. So I waited. And waited. In the meantime I continued to use my existing SIP card and receiving my free prescriptions.

UNTIL...

About 6 weeks ago, I was charged for medication. 10% so not a budget- breaker but still... So I asked the assistant why I was being charged and she said because it says so on the prescription. I protested that until today I had abeen getting my medications free of sharge. But she didn's seem interested so I paid under protest. Next time I went to the chemist for my prescription, I went to a different assistant. But the same thing happened. This time when I protested she told me to ask at the health centre. So off I went to the health centre and told the nice lady at reception my story, so she looked at my SIP card and prescription, typed something into her computer and said that my SIP card is valid but she printed out a new prescription for me, just in case. So off I went to the chemist. I think you can guess what happened next but this time the assistant suggested I go to the doctor and ask him. So I made an appointment with the doctor, told him my story, he nodded wisely and too my prescription and tore it up, typed a few things into his computer and printed a new prescription. "This should work" he said. So off I went to the chemist with my new magic prescription in my hand. I don't think I need to tell you what happenedd next...

SO...

I decided to go back to the town hall and see the nice lady there. She wasn't there, just a sign saying SIP CARDS NEXT MONDAY>

AAAARGH!

Can anyone suggest another port of call to find out why I suddenly have to pay for my medications???

Sorry for the rant.

Become a fiscal resident and you will not have to pay for prescription you have to fill in a tax return at least once even if you are not liable for any tax

jpeg wrote:Become a fiscal resident and you will not have to pay for prescription you have to fill in a tax return at least once even if you are not liable for any tax

Hi, I've been fiscal resident for about 3 years and just paid the second instalment of my tax bill I can't see it being anything to do with that.

Unfortunately prescriptions have not been free on Spain for many years.
Pensioners with an income of less than 18,000€ who have made a tax declaration will pay 10% for a Spanish prescription with a maximum payment of 8 euros a month. Pensioners with an income greater than 18.000€ will pay a maximum of 18€ a month.
If you have not made an annual resident tax declaration there will be no indication on the prescription of how much you must pay towards your Spanish prescription. Instead, blanket charges will be made of 40% for non-pensioners with low incomes and 10% for pensioners. However, it is important to note that no income information means no cap on your monthly contribution. A good reason for making sure that your resident tax declaration is in place.
Longer term, the intention is that this rate of pay information will be incorporated into your SIP card. A chip inside it will link to your resident tax declaration. This information will be much more specific and it will be increasingly difficult to obtain a discount if you haven't presented a tax return in Spain, even if it is a zero one.

If you've missed the 30th June deadline
What should you do if you haven't already made a resident tax return and you've missed the 30th June deadline? All is not lost if you'd like to remedy this and make sure you keep your prescription charges low. If you make your tax return now you will incur a small fine but it is minimal to what it will be if you decide to make one later in the year.

For the first three months after the official deadline there will only be a 5% fine. After that it doubles to 10% between 3 and 6 months and 15% between 6 and 12 months. After that it rises to 20% along with daily interest.

You have to pay 10% for your prescription because you earn over €18,000 a year. Under that and they are free (please note that that is in the Valencia region, most other Spanish regions charge 10% for everyone). Over €18,000 and you pay 10% of the cost up to a maximum of €18.52 a month. If you are lucky to earn over €100,000 then you pay 10% with a maximum charge of €61.75 a month.
I pay 10% of the cost but my wife gets them for free as she only has her state pension to declare.
These charges are for those over pensionable age with an S1.

Harry Epsom. These changed on 1st January 2016 so anyone earning 18k a year has had them free since then in the Valencia region.

Thanks Marcliff. I picked that info up off the Web, but clearly, from what you write, Valencia is an exception. My Wife was quite right then when she was adamant she wasn't paying for her prescriptions. Thank heavens because they are extensive.