It is a Spanish healthcare provider which I know is acceptable for the residencia application as I have used it before for that purpose ( long torturous story best left in the past ). Funny enough I recently contacted the provider to ensure it would renew in October as I intended using it for the purpose of obtaining residencia in October. They confirmed I need do nothing as set up for renewal, however if I wished to cancel in November I could? Struck me that they may well be aware that once resident I could get public health under the new system, they are Andalucia based .

Bob,

Yes indeed. I think You are bang on right. Get feet under table and watch the melee from afar.

The Leglislation letter was the one divorcing us from the UK NHS and emphasising we had no transferable cover as we were under 65.

Thanks for the update, glad it was positive news (as we expected and hoped for). Been reading the thread on another forum and many are still in denial trying every which way to still put a negative spin on it.....very sad bitter bunch indeed. Oh Kaipa Sexmith whatever you are going by today.....you were "flamed" solely because you were posting multiple posts of total misinformation....as has now been more than adequately established.

I would much rather rely on facts and experience that waste time venting my spleen for whatever reason! Facts have worked against my plans sometimes; and sometimes for them!

Anyway, lots more to come on this Universal Healthcare thing, but I reckon they needed the Convenio sorted quickly to avoid giving big money refunds.

I still love Spain, would not want to be anywhere else in the World now!

Read this elsewhere, thought it worth posting as it shows a personal experience of the new system.

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17th August 16:43 · Universal Healthcare. Feedback from a member.

“We have just returned from our local health centre having been successfully added to the health system as early retirees.

I thought I would share the steps we took for anyone who is in the same situation as us.

We are early retirees, have had our residency for eighteen months and been paying for private healthcare. We are in Almeria province in Andalucia.

We followed CAB's suggestion and printed off the Convenio Especial application form from their website, filled it out and took that with our copies of the padron, a copy of our passports and a copy of our residency cards.

We presented the documents, were given a further form to fill out to apply for a health card, and that was it. We were told the documents would be forwarded on to the relevant body and our cards would be with us in due course by post. We were given a stamped copy of the health card application form which we were told would be sufficient to see a doctor in the meantime.

Quite a surprised response on our part at the ease of the process.....thank you CAB for working on this so quickly and diligently, it is with your prompting that we thought we might as well give it a go today.

Can I just clarify that to apply for convenio you needed to be resident for 12 months but under the new universal system you can apply as soon as resident and on the padron?

Not sure I understand exactly. Is this different from the existing system? They have been resident for over 12 months . During the time they had private insurance. Now they have applied for CE and will therefore be covered for healthcare. Was it different before?

CE doesn't exist in some Communidades now.

I suspect all will be stopping it shortly

yes I understand that. But does this mean they still have CE in Almeria and these people have beenable to able to access it?Or has something changed? The way it reads doesn't suggest that CE has stopped in this communidad

Some Communidades will be quicker than others e.g Andalucia in implementing the new decree/health care system and admin proceedures. I suggest you direct your query to the relevant INSS office that affects you. As with most things in Spain every individual case will differ due to personal circumstances. But one thing is for sure CE has been abolished.

The way I read it was they had to be resident for 12 months before they could apply for CE, as CE is somewhat less expensive than private health insurance. This was before the new law was passed and so they had private health insurance from when they were resident up quite recently when they applied, and were accepted, into the CE scheme. So yes the inference is that CE is still running in Almeria, IMHO of course.

Its totally now free and meds no longer cost 100%.
Keep up!

Okay, my letter from the horses mouth at Andalucia clearly says that the Convenio Especial ceased to exist on 1st. August and they are in the process of redesigning a new system, meanwhile all current CE holders maintain full cover and can use their cards etc.
UK ex pats who are not covered by transferable health cover (under 65, no S1) and resident are covered for free. As I said before, the kick off for this is the letter from the UK casting us adrift from the NHS. If S1 forms or cover suddenly get withdrawn for the over 65's, I firmly believe those resident's affected could fall back on the Universal cover.

I have no idea as regards applicants, would love to hear some facts on the matter from an under 65 applying for residency.

​​​​​​⠀‹Hi Ian thanks for the update. As you know it is my intention to obtain residency towards the end of October, so if any change I will update. However I am of the firm belief it is exactly as you say for residency applicants without an S1 and under 65, private health insurance required to obtain residency but once resident they can sign on to the new system and cancel private.