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Health care for new residents in Spain

The E-121 for permanent residents

If you have contributed to the national health services of your own country, and that country has an agreement with Spain on health services (as is the UK), you can also be covered if you stay for longer periods in Spain, or become a permanent resident here. Then you need to bring a form E-121 in two copies with you to Spain, and register it with the Spanish health authorities. The registration is with the local Centro de Salud. They will keep one of the copies of the form, and fill in and stamp the other one, to be kept by you.

After a while you will receive in the post a card identifying you as a person with certain rights to use the Spanish national health services. On it will be given the name of the medic you are to visit in case of illness, as well as the address of the next INSS health centre.
If you go on visits to other countries from Spain, you must remember to get an E-111 from your local health centre, to be covered as a tourist abroad, even in your home country.

Private health insurances

If you are not included in the national health services of your home country, you may have contracted a private health insurance there. Find out with the insurance company if they will pay your medical bills in Spain as well. If you are completely or partly without cover abroad, and a travel insurance does not fill the gap, you should take private health insurance. Some foreigners feel more comfortable with private insurance in addition to the public one, because they like to choose their medic and hospital, or because they doubt the quality of the state health services. To the last point we can say: The national health services in Spain has improved immensely, and is of a very high standard. What you cannot avoid, not in Spain and also not in your home country, are queues and waiting times.

There are a number of private Spanish or foreign health insurances offered to the foreigners in Spain. You only have to read one of the publications in foreign languages to find their addresses or agents. You may also ask other foreigners who have been staying in Spain for a long time for their experiences.

One of the leading Spanish health insurance companies are offering a very comprehensive coverage for a price of 172.000 pesetas per year for a married couple of 61 years of age.

The most important health insurance companies in Spain are Adeslas, Asisa, La Estrella, Previasa, Sanitas and Winterthur.

Today, all insurance companies have their "Defensor del Asegurado" (ombudsman for the insured) who you can present your complaints to if you feel the company is not dealing correctly with you. If that does not work, you can approach Dirección General de Seguros (phone 91-339 72 00) in the Ministry of Economy. If you want to present a formal complaint to this office, proceed as follows:
* Write the complaint in Spanish, add a copy of the contract and the bills that the company eventually refuses to pay and all other documentation of relevance.
* The Dirección General will then transmit the complaint to your insurance company and demand an answer within 10 days.
* After the insurance company has answered, the Dirección General will give you the content of this answer, and you have 10 days to comment on their arguments.
* If you just maintain your original complaint, the Dirección General will give their opinion on the case, which is not binding for either party. If their opinion is favourable to the client, the insurance company has 1 month to decide whether they accept the ruling or not. If it is favourable to the company or if the company ignores it when it is favourable to you, you have to bring the matter to court.

Preparing for emergencies

We recommend every person to have next to the phone the name and phone number of a medic speaking your language, or of the local health centre, as well as a company providing ambulance services, and the closest hospital where you would want to go to in an emergency (depending if you are covered by the National Health Service or rely on private services).
If there is a local information office for the foreigners in your area, they will provide you with a list of medics speaking foreign languages, public health centres, as well as public and private hospitals and clinics.

Useful Addresses

British United Provident Association (BUPA):

Russell House, Russell Mews, Brighton BN1 2NR   01272 208181, www.bupa-intl.com

BUPA International offers a range of worldwide schemes for individuals and companies of three or more employees based outside the UK for six or more months.

Expacare:

email: info@expacare.net or visit www.expacare.net. Specialists in expatriate healthcare offering high quality health insurance cover for individuals and their families, including group cover for five or more employees. Cover is available for expatriates of all nationalities worldwide.

Good Health Primary International Ltd.

Springfield House, Springfield Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 2RG. They offer private healthcare plans to expatriates worldwide.