Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

An estimate is made of how much might be required in payments. Not how much should be paid out and it is normally more than is expected to be required. The unpaid money is returned to the treasury.

Jim

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Where are the majority of benefit cheats,are they the ones that duck mondays,are they the ones that take a week off with the sniffles,are they the window cleaners,or the incapacity cheats,maybe they all live in Spain.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Sorry but you are mixing Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity benefit. In the former case this can last for life, in the latter any new claims since 2008 are under the Employment Support Allowance. The government are looking at the continued IB claims.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Unfortunately most people are clueless when it comes to mental illness, which also includes a lot of doctors. Telling suffers they should get a grip and pull themselves together is a total waste of time but probably makes the intolerant feel better. I think that Scampicat is one of the few people on this thread who has any grasp of this matter.


Jim

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

That's not too surprising as unless people have to deal with such illnesses on a regular basis how can they be expected to understand or recognise the impact either on the ill individual or the people around them.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Scampicat, without prying too much and getting too personal, am I reading this right? Are you saying your husband is receiving his private pension and also Incapacity payments that are unaffected by the pension payments? Forgive me if I have read this wrong.

If this is the case would someone with a private pension be able to go to the doctors and get put on incapacity benefit to top up his private pension, if so apart from obviously having an ailment, how would one go about this, would they need a sick note or something?

I was under the impression that if you had an income such as a private pension, incapacity payments would not be paid

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

The facts are foreign residents are treated different , your health cover finishes when you stop paying autonomo other than for emergency treatment unless you are 65 or over where as for Spanish citizens they get full cover regardless , an English friend had his appointment canceled with a heart specialist when he finished paying autonomo , he was told he would have to pay if he still wanted to see the specialist, the same for a friend who needed a CAT scan , as she did not pay autonomo the fee was 2k euros!! via the state health care.

Also have not heard of the many early expat retiree`s who broke all ties with the UK then needed specialist long term medical care but found out they would have to pay up until they are 65? there are hundreds of them!!

As you think it only takes the right forms to be filled in to be covered let us all know what these forms are , my Spanish gestor has no idea what they are or where you get them from.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Sorry Rotor, but you are misinformed at best and crazily xenophobic at worst.

The rules are exactly the same all residents whether they are Spanish or not. I dont know exactly what the forms are because I havent filled them in. But I helped an English couple claim free state healthcare for their children via the "Ley de menor" which we got at the local health centre. At the same time, the lady there asked if they want to claim for themselves under the destitution law, which - as LittleWeed confirmed - gives you free healthcare if you have very low income so cannot afford to contribute to social security payments.

There are a number of articles in the Spanish press about your healthcare rights, which as I keep being told on this forum how great British people's Spanish is, you will be able to dig out yourself

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Now that hits the nail fair and square on the head.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

He is neither.

There may or not be articles about rights to healthcare but convincing some tin pot hitler at the seg social or wherever you go to get it for you is a different matter. I have met several jobsworth who think that Britain isnt even in Europe so basically pixx. off Maybe they are told to say this?

I too know of several injustices, too many to detail here but all concerning autonomos, myself included. I also know that many gestors discourage asking for relief for autonomos because it often triggers an inspection, this is the mindset of my Spanish friends too.

I know of only one person who managed to obtain health cover under the law of vagrants and destitute people. When she was pregnant, she knew someone who lived in a town with a large population of gypsies and was taken to the health centre and registered as a destitute person.

The irony of it all was that her husband was and still is working on the black in a town about 20 miles away where they both live in their own house. Rumour is that they are in receipt of UK benefits as well.

This woman and her husband are obviously cheats, however, I doubt there are many Foreigners who have less than 400 euros a month to live on and own their own house who could actually survive long enough to receive any Spanish handout.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Rotor, you may be better off talking to the people at the local health centre than your gestor. The legal position of foreigners is exactly the same as for Spanish nationals with respect to access to health care. The problems may have more to do with the administrative complexity of the system and, perhaps, the reluctance of a (a few ?) functionarios to give health cards to foreigners.

Here are couple of ways someone who, for example, has closed down their "autonomo" can continue to receive health care;

1. Sin recursos. Available to anyone with an income of less than the SMI (about 630 euros a month). This is based on the “Real Decreto 1088/1989”.

2. Regional legislation. In Galicia and Cataluña all residents have access to public health services. In Madrid, Valencia. Murcia and La Rioja anyone who has ever contributed to the Social Security will continue to receive health care.

Possibly in a few months this very messy system will be sorted out. As part of its legislation program, the Govt announced a month or so ago that it would introduce legislation (Ley de Universalización de la Cobertura Sanitaria) in April to make health care universal.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

So basically your now changing your tune , you have to be skint / destitute or a minor to get free health care unless you are a Spanish citizen? not what you said in your previous post.

A Spanish citizen multi millionaire is entitled to free health care with out contributing to the SS, ex pats forget it.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

It cant be the same as Spanish citizens (including south American immigrants) get unlimited health care regardless of financial situation ,unlike EU expats.

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

Re: Are you a benefit fraud.. and living in Spain?
 

That is the category I fell into!
Even though my Incapacity Benefit stopped last year when I became eligible for my state pension, it would appear that certain people don't think I should have moved here while incapable of working in the UK.

If I could swap places with the fit and health do they not think I would, my life post operation has been highly restricted, I can no longer do things I once took so much for granted.....
Some of these people should re-think their cavalier attitude, as some day it could happen to them!