# health care for Americans living in Spain



## donqzen

Okay...think I've done all the homework I can on my own... have Searched This Forum and have taken the advice given to check out the Sanitas site...also find _lots_ of posts re UK residents & h.c., but those don't address (obviously) the health care issues of an American moving to Spain.. :violin: :help: I've been here (Comares & near) for 9 days now...about 5 weeks to go this (first) visit - obviously, I'm here to answer the question, 'would I like living here?' Have already checked out Korea/Japan, Mexico, Germany, Italy (_very_ desirable but wicked expensive, eh?) And despite the glitches/weather, everything I see/hear (especially @ this site), makes me want to be here. If I move here, I'll stay for the six winter months - will always summer in Leelanau Co., Michigan, US because hey - - it's Leelanau (you're all invited over to hang all u want). Online Guide to Leelanau County, Michigan I'll only need health care for myself. I am in my late-50's, living on a retired teacher's pension in the US; I say this because there is one older post here of a second-hand account of retired Americans living in Spain who are on Spain's equivalent of our Social Security system (I'm looking into the US and Spain having a reciprocal agreement regarding retirees...unsuccessfully, so far) - and that's who I'd really like to connect with here regarding this topic: US citizens :usa2: retired here in Spain, because they've already - presumably - covered all the ground that lays yet b4 me - - and I'm a big one for not re-inventing the wheel whenever possible.:yield: I should say that the owner (and all-around good egg) of the B&B where I am staying was completely certain that buying a private health care policy was the _only option for Americans seeking residency in Spain B4 she read the aforementioned post... so it appears I may have more options than most folks would guess at first..(??) _ (I'll probably want to rent out whatever place I get here while I'm back Stateside each summer - but that's a topic for another post...) So. What say y'all?


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## Stravinsky

Private health care IS your only option unless you are working here and paying into the system. Afaik theres no reciprocal arrangement between Spain & the USA for healthcare. Not even a EU citizen will get healthcare here if they are under retirement age and not working (unless receiving disability payments in their country of origin). A reciprocal agreement would mean Spain charging the US agencies for any healthcare you received here,

So private health care is your only main option I'm afraid.


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## Bevdeforges

If you're only in Spain for six weeks, you're probably on a Schengen visa (sort of like the VWP for Americans in Europe). But to spend six months a year in Spain, especially on a regular basis, you're going to need a visa. And, in the process of getting a visa, the consulate is very likely to ask you for proof of health insurance. 

For six months at a time, you probably can take advantage of either travel health insurance (which, in the case of a serious accident or illness, would arrange for transport back to the US for treatment) or expat insurance (where you would be treated in Spain). However, take a look first at your health insurance back in the US. Some plans will cover medical treatment in Europe on pretty much the same basis you're covered in the US. (Why not? Health care in Europe is much cheaper than in the US!)
Cheers,
Bev


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## tomás pavlovich

*I soon will be in Spain also*

When I left the USA 15 years ago, my level of Spanish was abyssmal.
Instead of conjugating verbs I just used infinitives so I could talk faster.
Last year went to Valencia and took an advanced course to learn more about the subjunctive mood. 
I am also retired and need to share info with you.
Hope you can get my email or website address so we can communicate
I think I need to make 2 more replies before i ualify. Soon I am moving to Spain (canaries). Have tons of information in my website but still am not allowed to communicate to you the details or my email address. I think the forum administrator has my site on file. Hope to stay in contact with you.
I left the USA 15 years ago. I was economically exiled by an an alimony judgement. Instead of continuing to work un til I became 98, I retired with a small pension and moved to Costa Rica with only a backpack. I gave the EX all of my other worldly possessions (houses,cars,boats,tools, 25 years of material possessions. I met a Sofia Loren lookalike in Costa Rica who turned out to be a bruja (witch). I escaped one night and fled to Guatemala, a country I had avoided for 50 years. Within 2 months I married a native Guatemalteca with 2 kids and began a new life overseas. I spent 8 years there, bought a house but finally the level of violence there got to me. I bought some land in Honduras and built with my own hands a nice wood house. I cant show you the URL to my website yet because of forum regulations. If you send me an email will send you more details.
I spent about 3 years living with a family of campesinos in Honduras, staying about one month there and returning to Guatemala. I had permanent residence in both countries. Finally the violence struck Honduras and the President lost a son to the maras. I told my Guatemala wife that I was moving on and gave her the option to come with me. She said no, so I left my two houses and farm behind and headed for Chile, which I had visited briefly a year before. In Chile still living on my pension, but now also social security had arrived. And in two more months the EX went to the great beyond (DEP) leaving me with no more alimony obligations) In Chile I met met a gal pal who let me build a shack on her shared inhertance property (13 owners). For the last 5 years I have been living in my little toolshed only 2 blocks from the South Pacific sea. But Chile for my old bones is too cold most of the year and the gal pal is too skinny to provide much warmth. So I have decided to move on once more. If the USA had decent public transportation, I would probably go bak to the country of my birth. I visited last year for firsst time in 12 years. Since now Spanish is my primary language, I have decided to relocate in the Canary Islands. My nprevious 2 choices were Panama and Ecuador. I like the dollarized economies of those places. I have done a lot of research and spent 3 months making web pages which incorporate my fin dings, includinng cost of livin g data. Send me an email and I will provide you or any other interested party with details. I think the administrator of thiis forum has my website on file. My email address is xxx. The arroba does not have a unique name in English language. We call it by bv various names but in Spanish the arroba is the little squiggly . Try using the internet without it.

Good luck whereever you land, and dont be afraid to keep on moving. It helps to have only "portable property". I can still pack all my belongings in a high school backpace in less than an hour. It really helped losing everything 3 times now.
Your friend, Tomás Eduardo Pavlovich, xxx


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