# healthcare requirements & residency



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

I've just seen a post on a FB group by an insurance salesperson which implies that you have to pay for 12 months health insurance upfront in order to get a certificate which satisfies the healthcare aspect for residency 

If you don't qualify for state healthcare, obviously

Now, we know that you have to have a healthcare policy which satisfies the extranjería, but can anyone who has registered recently confirm that paying for 12 months upfront is _not _a requirement?


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## fcexpat (Sep 25, 2014)

We qualified for the free healthcare as are pensioners ... but our neighbours who were going through the process at the same time but younger had to pay for their twelve months healthcare to get their certificate for residency upfront .... hope that answers your question


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

fcexpat said:


> We qualified for the free healthcare as are pensioners ... but our neighbours who were going through the process at the same time but younger had to pay for their twelve months healthcare to get their certificate for residency upfront .... hope that answers your question


any idea which company it was?

I've since spoken to quite a few people who have registered in the past few weeks who _didn't _have to pay 12 months upfront - they just had to have a proper healthcare policy, even if it was paid monthly


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

fcexpat said:


> We qualified for the free healthcare as are pensioners ... but our neighbours who were going through the process at the same time but younger had to pay for their twelve months healthcare to get their certificate for residency upfront .... hope that answers your question


That's interesting. I assume you went to the police station in Torre del Mar? I know that some folk have been there to obtain residency and didn't have to provide any information regarding healthcare or income and others who had to do just as your neighbours found. At that police station, at least, it seems to depend on who is on duty at the time. We moved a few years ago and went to register our change of address. They told us there was no need but took down the details anyway and said they would update their records. When we had to show our residencias recently, they were surprised that the address registered was not the same as on the padron, so they hadn't bothered to change it. Spain.


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## fcexpat (Sep 25, 2014)

Our neighbours had to jump through hoops and had to provide a certificate for their healthcare showing they had paid for the coming year ... not sure what the company I and don't like to ask ! 
I agree that it appears to depend on who you see at Torre del Mar - we had no problems - but they appear to ... whereas we had problem at Velez Malaga when went to lodge our S1 as we had certified copies of our residencia but OH had brought the wrong purse so did not have her original - so back we went with the original a day later - saw someone else who didn't even want to look at it !


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## stefig (Jul 14, 2015)

I'm sure this has been asked hundreds of times, but how can Spain be allowed to demand things like this when Spanish citizens can come to the UK, not have to show any sort of proof of anything, use the NHS and any other public service free of charge and be allowed to sign on the dole? I thought the whole point of the EU was that you could be free to live and work where you wanted and be treated the same as locals of that country?


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## hibiscus123 (Aug 27, 2015)

thrax said:


> That's interesting. I assume you went to the police station in Torre del Mar? I know that some folk have been there to obtain residency and didn't have to provide any information regarding healthcare or income and others who had to do just as your neighbours found. At that police station, at least, it seems to depend on who is on duty at the time. We moved a few years ago and went to register our change of address. They told us there was no need but took down the details anyway and said they would update their records. When we had to show our residencias recently, they were surprised that the address registered was not the same as on the padron, so they hadn't bothered to change it. Spain.


 ''it seems to depend on who is on duty at the time.'',,,, aint that the truth,,, one of the women behind the desks quite literally will decide on the spot to speak English or not, unreal! she works in a dept that deals with foreigners but she has a reputation of being awkward if she wants (she works in the ##### foreigners dept), in my case she cost me over E100 to get a gestor just to get my NIE number. As for your address quirk I have got THREE different official addresses for my house, then again we do live in ,,,,,,,.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

stefig said:


> I'm sure this has been asked hundreds of times, but how can Spain be allowed to demand things like this when Spanish citizens can come to the UK, not have to show any sort of proof of anything, use the NHS and any other public service free of charge and be allowed to sign on the dole? I thought the whole point of the EU was that you could be free to live and work where you wanted and be treated the same as locals of that country?


Because they are EU rules / guidelines which since 2012 Spain has decided to enforce, and the UK hasn't. 
Other EU countries also enforce them
In fact you are free to live and work here the same as Spanish citizens. They don't get dole either until they have worked for a qualifying period, and then it isn't infinite, and it's only recently that they have had access to health care if not working


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> Because they are EU rules / guidelines which since 2012 Spain has decided to enforce, and the UK hasn't.
> Other EU countries also enforce them
> In fact you are free to live and work here the same as Spanish citizens. They don't get dole either until they have worked for a qualifying period, and then it isn't infinite, and it's only recently that they have had access to health care if not working


Plus, as far as I know, the UK is the only country in Europe where the benefits system and access to healthcare is solely residence based and not contribution based. I believe some changes to the benefit system have either been made very recently or are just about to be introduced to debar EU migrants from claiming benefits for a certain period.


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

I think it would be better if the rest of Europe followed the UK example and have it residency based for all. Obviously that won't happen, instead looks like the UK is moving towards a more nationalist direction.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Roy C said:


> I think it would be better if the rest of Europe followed the UK example and have it residency based for all. Obviously that won't happen, instead looks like the UK is moving towards a more nationalist direction.


I think that's highly unlikely. Not only is the healthcare system in the rest of Europe contribution based, but in many countries it is not completely free at the point of use either - ROI, France and the Netherlands, for example.


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