Morning guys,

We are moving to Spain within the next two months and need some advice please.

My husband and I are both taking medication, and will need to for quite some time.

We are going to get private health cover for us and our two children, but a few months down the line...when we've bought a property. For the time being we've been advised that the E1 11, or the Uk medical card will cover us for 6 months.......?

Do we just get registered with a doctor and get prescriptions as we do in the UK ??

Any help or advice would be much appreciated thanks.

hope you're al having a good day xx

Mich

Hello

The European Medical Card will cover you for two years but the E111 paperwork is now out of date. The card superceded it. This is highly important as the card entitles you to free emergency medical care.

To get registered at a doctor's surgery you will require an NIE number which you obtain from the local police station and town hall, an empadron which you obtain from the town hall and then hand over your medical card along with those documents to get a temporary SIP card.

It is worthwhile obtaining copies of all medical records before coming to Spain as they will not send out to the UK for them. If you have ongoing medical conditions the copies can be quite expensive, ours were £70!

When you get a prescription from your doctor you will pay 40% of the RRP of the drugs that you require. To get your medication free you need to register to pay Social Security at the local office and then when you are making contributions you will receive a permanent SIP card.

With respect to your private medical insurance I can highly recommend ASSA as they are set up entirely for English people with all their doctors, dentists and medical staff being English speaking. For a fully comprehensive service for someone of my age (37) you are looking at €750 and when I say fully comp it really is, there are virtually no excesses to pay on any of the treatments and whatever age you are now is the age that they will continue to treat you as so there wont suddenly be policy changes in the future because of your age!

Hope this helps.

Regards

David.

Have tried to find assa with google, do you mean ASA? only ASSA seems to be in the far east
Spanish bupa have quoted for our family 2000 euros per annum, so would you say this is expensive?

Sorry that should have read ASSSA! The website is at;

http://www.asssa.es/

and it can be viewed in English of course.

I'm not familiar with Bupa so I can't really comment on the price that you were quoted although it sounds pretty good to me.

David.

Brilliant, many thanks
Kevray

You need to get an E106 assuming you are working age, this is from the Pensions office in Newcastle it will cover you for up to two years with a GP here. If you are retirement age (60) then E121 fromt eh same place and this will entilte you to free precriptions but you need to be 60 or over for this one.

pwwm

I was at an expo show in Denia a week or so ago and there was a stand there from ASSSA. I got a quote from them which was well under 1000 eur. The cover seems excellent as well. What level cover did you take Vic and what was their attitude to past medical history??

most ongoing prescriptions can be brought ove the counter in spain, the cost is much cheaper than england, but if you register with the local health authority, you get them cheaper. otherwise get anyone you know to bring the over for you, especially if you are expempt

Hi Fernando

Cost as you say can be cheaper than the UK but if for instance you need something like Lansoprazole, these cost around 32 euros for 28.
The GP in UK will not prescribe if they know you are living abroad, holidays are ok, but if here permanantly, they will not as it is not legal, so if you do get prescriptions to bring over, then you need to keep stum that you are resident here.

pwwm

Hi

For myself and my wife it costs €1500 a year fully comp. You have to be honest about medical history and they can't cover obvious lifelong conditions but there's so many things that can go wrong with the human body that it's worth having for peace of mind.

Myself and my partner have been with Prevision Medica for a number of years now and have been more than happy with their service.

Up to now (touch wood) we have not had any major illnesses. However, we have had a few incidents where we have been very grateful of our private medical care.

I have had wisdom teeth removed, dental check ups and clean, smear tests, and other minor visits to docs, all of which have been dealt with very professionally and of course, at no extra cost.

We pay 588 Euros per year each for ours.

www.previsionmedica.com

I'm not sure if the website is in English yet but they do have English speaking staff who are very helpful.

Hi!

Try Helvetia Prevision. they have an english speaking helpline 952 197059 for quotes and advice. 88% of their customers are british expats. Hope this helps.

We will be moving over later this year. Does anyone know how I will stand as I'm still under my specialist for breast cancer......regular check ups every six months and I'm taking medication for god knows how many more years.

I was just going to get my repeat prescriptions bought over via family and friends and fly back for my check ups until such a time that I am discharged (if I ever do get discharged that is)

Medical insurance would probably not cover an exsisting condition such as cancer would it?
Mary

I would suggest that on your next trip here bring along all your meds and take then to the local chemist and see what is available, you don't need prescriptions here. Things that they don't have you'll need to find alternatives for. Also Meds here are dirt cheap.

The only thing we ran in to a problem with was a Steroid inhaler, they didn't carry anything strong enough, so we'll have to find an alternative to that

Morning,

Do you think the chemists sell anti-depressants......I've post post-natal depression and I'm concerned about getting them.....to keep me sane !!!!!!!!!