Healthcare in Valencia Region

This FAQ was written on 1^st February 2007 and reflects the then current methods of obtaining National Health medical treatment in the Valencia Region of Spain for a British citizen.

Working:

If you are working in Spain, the easiest way to obtain health cover is by joining the social security system, paying your monthly fee (or getting your employer to do so) and getting a plastic SIP card for you and your dependents (a temporary cardboard card will be issued while the paperwork is processed). The current cost depends on age and averages 200€ per month. If you pay into this system for more than 15 years, you will also receive a pension on retirement.

Not working and one or both partners over UK state retirement age:

Contact the Department of Work and Pensions in Newcastle, obtain a form E121 and if your partner is under state retirement age, ask for them to be included as a dependant. Take the E121 with your Residencia / passport and Padrón certificate to the nearest Social Security Office (INSS) and register. You will be issued with a plastic SIP card and if you request it, an EHIC (old E111) to use for medical treatment in other countries of the EU. Some local medical centres will also do the registration for you and the SIP card will be posted to you.

Not working under state retirement age 1:

Contact the Department of Work and Pensions in Newcastle and obtain a form E106 for each of you. Take the E106 with your Residencia/passport and Padrón certificate to the nearest Social Security Office (INSS) and register. You will be issued with a plastic SIP card and, if you request it, an EHIC (old E111) to use for medical treatment in other countries of the EU. Some local medical centres will also do the registration for you and the SIP card will be posted to you. The disadvantage with this way of obtaining cover is that the UK government undertake to pay Spain for your treatment for 2 years and you will then need to obtain cover in another way. The advantage to this method is that the Valencia Health Service gets some money from the UK to cover your treatment, so not all costs have to be met from local taxes.

Not working under state retirement age 2:

Contact the Department of Work and Pensions in Newcastle and obtain letter saying that you are no longer entitled to medical treatment in the UK for each of you (they have a standard letter saying this). Take the letter with your Residencia/passport and Padrón certificate to the nearest Social Security Office (INSS) and register. You will be issued with a plastic SIP card and, if you request it, an EHIC (old E111) to use for medical treatment in other countries of the EU. Some local medical centres will also do the registration for you and the SIP card will be posted to you. The disadvantage with this way of obtaining cover is that the Valencia Health Service gets no money from the UK to cover your treatment so all costs have to be met from local taxes. You may also find some health centres are unaware of the relevant regional legislation allowing you to sign on in this way and you might need to arrange for them to phone Alicante to confirm that it is possible.

Not working under state retirement age 3:

Before leaving the UK, obtain a UK EHIC for each of you. Take the EHIC, Residencia / passport and Padrón certificate to the nearest medical centre and register. You will be issued with a paper SIP card that needs to be renewed every 6 months at the medical centre. A disadvantage with this way of obtaining cover is that the Valencia Health Service gets no money from the UK to cover your treatment so all costs have to be met from local taxes. The biggest disadvantage of this method of obtaining cover is that you will only receive emergency treatment on the paper SIP card; no elective treatment will be given. Note: under the terms of your UK EHIC, you should surrender it on leaving the UK to live in Spain and so this method of obtaining cover is not in accordance with UK rules.

Please be aware that if you join the Spanish National Health system and decide to return to the UK for medical treatment under the UK National Health system you will probably have to prove UK residence for 6 months before you will be accepted back onto the UK NHS. Therefore, in the first 6 months you will probably have to pay for any medical treatment in the UK.

Even if you have private medical insurance in Spain it is still advisable to register on the Spanish National Health system. The reason for this is that emergency medical treatment is charged for if you cannot show a SIP card. There may be some delay in YOU recovering this money from your insurance provider. The hospital will want payment from YOU for the emergency treatment.

Newcastle phone number: 0044-191 218 1999.

Web site http://www.dwp.gov.uk/

This FAQ has been prepared by, and is copyright of, Colin Spencer. Please report any errors or omissions to colinsp@costablancaexpats.net

Permission for reproduction of this file on other non-commercial websites will be freely given, but please ask first.

This information has been compiled from personal experience and from questions and answers given on the Costa Blanca Expats forum. My thanks go to all those contributors and to Mark A. Solomon for his pre-publication document review.

Version History

First version 1^st February 2007