parish

Hi all. I found this site while Googling and signed up as it seems a good place for help/advice/information.

My wife and I plan on retiring early to Lanzarote within the next 5 years which will be about 5 years before we reach UK State Pension age. If we understand it correctly, on reaching State Pension age we complete a form S1 in the UK and then get full free healthcare in Spain but until then we have a 5 year gap where we have to fund it ourselves - or do we?

We believe that we either take out private health insurance or can pay the Spanish equivalent of NI Contributions which would entitle us to the same as Spaniards, but this costs about €260 per month each - over €6,000 per year.

However, I have now been reading about changes the Spanish Govt. made recently and keep coming across a statement that any legal resident of Spain gets free healthcare if their income is less than €100,000, for example in this thread in this forum...
This would mean that something which we would previously have to pay for is now free, which seems odd given that Spain's economy is worse than the UK's so you would expect them to be reducing costs!

So, what is the situation (currently - things could obviously change in 5 years)?

Mitzyboy

Yes, well Valencia for instance cant even pay its pharmacies ......

Private health care btw is relatively cheap and costs around €11-1200 a year for a couple in their mid fifties with someone like Sanitas.es

Theres been talk of this for ages, but if you move here now you have to prove you have income above a certain level AND you have your healthcare covered

lynnxa

currently, that quote you found only applies to those who were registered as resident & fiscally resident before April 24th 2012 - so anyone who arrived or registered after that date can only access state healthcare by contributing in some way

'contributing' can mean paying NI here by way of employment or self-employment (autónomo) or if the 'home' country pays by way of a reciprocal agreement - that can be, in the case of pensioners the UK in your case would pay for you by way of an S1 form until such time as you leave (one way or another), or for the early retired, again with form S1 but for a limited period of up to 2.5 years

there's a discussion running about this atm if you look here http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=790571

parish

I read that as €11-12,000 at first

How good is private health insurance in Spain? Are the policies full of get-out clauses (e.g. we won't pay for your broken leg because you'd had a couple of beers)?

That was another thing I wanted to ask about. While I will have some income (I estimate around €7,000 per annum) from a private pension, our major "income" will be a lump sum from the sale of our UK home which I hope can be taken into account?

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

parish

Ah, thank you for clarifying. That makes sense.

So you can't contribute if you're not working?

Thanks! That's great, so we'd get reciprocal funding from the UK leaving only 2.5 years for us to fund it ourselves?

Mitzyboy

I found the Private health care to be good, although my usage of it was not great. You know that once one of you reaches pensionable age, the other is covered also? Private care tends to rule out some previous stuff, so you have to be a little careful

The theory of it is that you you can prove a regular income, however I'm sure there will be a way of showing income off capital.

Sausages

You need to ring 0191 218 1999.

When you get through, you will speak to the NHS overseas healthcare team and they will ask you a series of questions. This relates to your NI contributions in the last 3 years only. So if you have paid 30 years of NI but finished paying in 2009 for example, you won't get an S1. If you have had them paid, whether as a benefit claimant or as a worker, then you will be entitled to up to 2 years and 6 months of healthcare in Spain. Once that expires you'll need to get some private healthcare until you are at retirement age. I've just gone through that and will only get free healthcare it until January next year, but my personal circumstances mean that I'll be ok after that in any case.

I believe you will get healthcare if you register for tax in Spain, although I'm not sure of how this works and hopefully someone will add to this thread with this information. In the meantime I would call the above number for advice, although unless you have your moving date and it's within 4 weeks, then they will only give you advice as to the current situation. If you're not moving for another 5 years there could be any amount of changes that happen between now and then!!

parish

I think we all hope our usage of it won't be that great - if at all!!

I just read that in the thread that lynnxa linked to

That is one thing that we need to consider.

The way we are viewing it (as a measure of when we can afford to retire) is if we had, say, €50,000 and five years between retiring and getting our state pensions that would be €10,000 per year (plus any interest), but would the Spanish Govt. view it that way?

Mitzyboy

Please dont get me onto the subject of the Spanish Government

We retired 5 years before the wife got a pension. £10k is including rent? You wont be doing too much :-)

Interest ...... thats an interesting concept, thank you for reminding me of it

parish

No, we won't be renting. We will have paid the mortgage off on our present house in 4-5 years and, based on current prices here and in Lanzarote, we would be able to buy a property in Lanzarote for about 50% of what we (realistically) get for our present house; the other 50% being "income" to cover the years between retirement and state pension age.

That made me I take it interest rates for savers aren't that great in Spain?

Fred James

Paying tax in Spain doesn't mean you get healthcare.

If you work and pay tax or are self employed and pay autonomo and tax then you are covered.

If you just want to live in Spain you pay tax on your worldwide income and get no free healthcare unless you qualify under the reciprocal arrangements for pensioners or people recently working in the UK.