I'm (hopefully) coming to live in Spain for a year from mid-March.

I suddenly realised the other day that my normal travel insurance only covers me for trips of up to a maximum of 60 days at a time, so that's going to be of very little use.

I'm OK on the health front as I'm just going to carry my little blue card that replace the E111 but it suddenly occurred to me that I have no idea what happens insurance-wise if, say, I were to have my laptop stolen!

Any advice gratefully appreciated. Should I try and organise something here before I go, or wait til I'm out there or is there a chance I'm covered on my contents insurance or something?

Way too many things to think about!!

Thanks.

Im sure you will be able to get insurance here for your contents, you can get long term travel insurances byt dont know if you can get one for a year, usually up to 90 days or something like that

You realise your E111 is for emergency holiday cover only dont you .... wont cover you normally for a doctors visit for instance

Why only a year

As Mitz says, the card only covers you for emergency treatment, any thing after is charged for, as is repatriation to the UK for further treatment if needed.
There have been many stories about unfortunate people stuck abroad and having to pay out a fortune, some even with insurance cover, but they did not read the small print.

Go into any spanish Insuranace Agent or Bank and they will be happy to arrange cover for your possessions. You could easily find and contact an agent to arrange cover before you go via the web, if you have an address in spain.

Many of my friends pay out a small fortune for medical insurance. Personaly I wouldn't bother if I were you. Your blue card covers you for any emergency treatment you may require.

You will have to pay for rountine visits to the doctor or dentist. This will cost you very little, assuming you are fit and healthy?

Famous last words!

Thats OK if you break a leg, or are in an accident. What happens if you are taken ill with a non emergency that requires hospitalisation but is not an emergency?? Just make sure you have the funds to cover the costs of that plus repatriation to the UK.

You can get an annual travel insurance for a relatively small amount of money, you just need to try and find one that can be extended to 12 months

Thanks for all the info, everyone. I can't claim to be fit (!) but I'm certainly pretty healthy. I'll have had a dental check-up and have no reason to visit a doctor at the moment, so I'm going to trust that I don't need anything over and above emergency treatment (and hopefully none of that!). I'm still registered here with a doctor and a dentist so I'll probably just fly back to the UK for a couple of days if absolutely necessary. If the worst came to the absolute worst, I have credit cards and a dad that will pay to have me repatriated!!

I might see if I can find something on the net to insure my possessions before I leave, but I only have a confirmed address for the first month, then I'll be moving. I may be better of using my normal travel insurance for the first 60 days, which they cover me for anyway, then sort something more permanent.

Someone said "Why only a year?" - that's the initial plan. I'm coming out to train for a teaching job which, once I pass the course, I have to commit to the company for a minimum of 12 months. I've taken a 12 month career break from my job here, as a safety net. I also have a boyfriend, a cat, a flat and all my family here in the UK, so at the moment I'm viewing it as a year away. Who knows what might happen though?! Depends how much I like it!

Have a read HERE.

If you have paid up your stamps you may be able to get an E121 to cover you here.

Blimey, the more I look the more confused I get on the health front!

I have paid NI for 20 years, but now I've taken an unpaid career break I won't be making NI contributions for the year I'm in Spain as there will be no salary to take them from. I looked into it but everywhere else I looked said that if I was moving to another EEA country, I didn't need to. I think the voluntary contributions were something like £8 a week, an extra £32 a month that I can't really afford to have coming out of my savings here while I'm away!

I kept finding too that half the problem is contacting HMRC etc - they only ever seem to have postal addresses for enquiries instead of phone numbers or email addresses. I fly out there in 3 weeks and can't wait around to deal with people by letter - how antiquated!!!

Since the OP doesn't appear to be a pensioner, the E106 is more appropriate.

The details are on the same page as the E121 info - and they do give a phone number.

Its the DWP you want to be talking to in Newcastle isnt it?

I've got a feeling that by the time I've sorted all this out, I'll feel like a pensioner!
But no - I'm 40!

And yes, I guess it's probably Newcastle I need to talk to. Clearly I'm being blind as a bat cos the page I'm being taken to is NHS Choices and only gives postal addresses. I'll find it!

Can anyone advise then if I would actually be better off making voluntary NI contributions while I'm away? As far as I can tell, I don't absolutely have to.

As Fred said I put the wrong form number down, it is a E106 you can apply for while you are here.

Try gap year insurance such as Endsleigh...it may cover your needs

http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/gap-year-insurance.html

If you think you will have paid sufficient NHI contributions during your career to gain full pension (I believe this is 30 years for a 40 year old male), there is no point in making voluntary contributions.
As a.n.other poster has suggested a UK insurer may cover your possessions whilst overseas, but I think this could be expensive. I too have annual travel insurance but please check the small print as many have restrictions re the duration of your "holiday".
It is all about risk and your own situation. Insurance is not compulsory, it would be horrendously expensive to insure oneself against all of lifes unfortunate events.