# medical advice



## wavel (Oct 10, 2010)

Hi every one my name is Wavel i live in Spain just out side Malaga been here for 5 years now but only for a few months at a time as holiday home ,now my husband and i have decided to move here for good and been here since Aug my Q is does my E11 cover medical here when i sing with a doctor do i pay as at home for prescription don't know how it works can any one help many thanks.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

It depends on your age or your husbands age.

I am over 65 my wife is under. Before leaving England I was advised by the International Pension Centre, Tyneview Park, Newcastle on Tyne, NE981BA. to apply for a E121. I was then supplied with papers in Spanish and English, to take to the Social Security office here. This I did along with passport, resedencia, and all the other other papers I had acquired over the years.

Although my wife is not yet a pensioner, she is considered to be my dependent and we have both been admitted into the Spanish Health Care system with free prescriptions.

Here the Spanish healthcare system is absolutely fantastic!!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

wavel said:


> Hi every one my name is Wavel i live in Spain just out side Malaga been here for 5 years now but only for a few months at a time as holiday home ,now my husband and i have decided to move here for good and been here since Aug my Q is does my E11 cover medical here when i sing with a doctor do i pay as at home for prescription don't know how it works can any one help many thanks.


It all depends on your age. If you are a pensioner in the UK you can get a form E121 from the Dept of Work and Pensions that enables you to register with the Spanish Social Security and then you will get your medical treatment and medicines paid for by DWP.

Since the Spanish system is contributions-based (unlike UK where it is residence-based), if you are under retirement age, you will have to either gain employment and pay your Soc Sec contributions, register as self-employed (autonomo) and similarly contribute or have private insurance.

Your EHIC, while it may be accepted by the local Centro de Salud (Health Centre) for a short while, there is no guarantee of that for longer periods (depends on which Autonomous Community you are in); if you become resident you could be considered as committing benefit fraud if you still try to get free healthcare on your EHIC.


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## wavel (Oct 10, 2010)

thank you for your reply both very usefull


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

wavel said:


> when i sing with a doctor do i pay as at home for prescription don't know how it works can any one help many thanks.


The other replies tell you pretty much all you need to do to get registered with a Dr, but your EHIC (formerly E111) is really for tourists only and not applicable once you are resident.

In reply to your qiestion about prescriptions.

If you are a "pensionista" (of retirement age or in receipt of certain benefits due to incapacity) then prescriptions issued by your state GP will be red and free of charge just like the UK (obviously once you are on the SIP system and registered).

If you are notnentitled to free prescriptions, then you get a discount of 40% off the retail price of the medication (it is not a fixed fee like the UK). I have had antibiotics that have only cost me a couple of euros, but equally I had to have a cream once which was very expensive so it is swings and roundabouts.

If you are private then most insurance policies will not cover outpatiens prescriptions (only medications given as an in-patient in hospital). Therefore you pay the full retain price at the chemists with a private prescription.

Hope this helps!


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