Ikea lover

If one applies for the EU registration certificate after 3 months of living in Spain as an early retiree (showing evidence of funds in a bank account and private health insurance), can anyone shed light on how good a private health insurance is needed?

For instance, I have seen some very cheap ones where you have to make co-payments every time you use it. These can be had for about 30 euros a month, compared to about 60 euros per month for one the ones where no payments are needed. Are the cheap, co-payment insurances acceptable to get your EU certificate?

Also, can anyone recommend an insurance to go for? I did a quick check on rastreator.com where there are loads, but no idea which one to go for.

Ikea lover

Another query about this - when applying for your EU registration certificate and you take along your private health insurance document, is it ok to take a print out of your private health insurance certificate from email / the internet or does it have to be in paper format - sent to you through the post? (I'd imagine most insurance companies just send everything by email nowadays and don't bother posting things).

Also - any suggestions as to which company to go for? Sanitas / Adeslas seem to have lots of offices and seem to be well-known. If anyone who has a private health insurance can give any advice as to how good different companies are that'd be great.

Also - is private dental cover worth paying a bit extra for?

Loafing Along

On another thread an individual was turned away because he had an insurance with "copage" but it seems to be very much up to the particular authority ( as is the definition of sufficent funds ).
We use Adeslas ( with copage ) and find their service excellent, while you can do everything from make a claim to arrange a specialist on their client web they also have local offices with real humans in many cities and , when you sign up, send you a pile of documents, policy, CD of registered doctors etc. No complaints about them and I think they are slightly cheaper than Sanitas. The dental cover probably worth having, we did not and got stuck with huge bill for some root treatment.

Ikea lover

Thanks for the very useful information.

You don't happen to have a link to that other thread do you on the person who had problems with the co-payments health insurance? (or know where I can look for it?)

There's quite a big difference in price between private health insurance with or without co-payments - without seems to be almost double from what I have seen on different websites.

So I'd rather take out the cheaper, with co-payments one if possible - but then what if it were refused when registering for the EU certificate and I had to go away to get another insurance. Would the insurance company let me upgrade to the more expensive one? Or is there a cooling off period like in the Uk where you can cancel in the first 2 weeks or month? It would be a nightmare to have to take out another insurance as it seems none of them can be cancelled till one year is up from what I see.

Yes - so far I've seen that Adeslas is the best deal going at the moment. DKV are also quite competitive.

Loafing Along

Sorry don't remember the link but I do remember they ended up going back to their broker and changing their policy to a non co-payment one. Effectively allowing you to upgrade without any problem

Ikea lover

Thanks for the further info. Yes, I will check with the insurance companies before taking one out that upgrading is possible, just in case.

Fred James

If you have problems with them accepting a co-payment policy or one with restrictions, take out an expensive one and then cancel it.

It totally depends on the guy behind the desk. Our local clinic has a special scheme where if you pay €100 a year you get discounts on specialist treatment. He offered this when he registered and it was accepted.

Ikea lover

Yes. I have seen similar insurances for about 10 euros a month that just cover specialists. Yes, guess it depends on the person on the day. And also perhaps what document you show them and if it goes into any detail or just states "private health insurance" with your name, passport number etc. Maybe even showing the private health insurance card they send out to you could be enough.