Health care qualification – Spain or UK?

If you do not qualify as a UK State pensioner, you may still qualify for health care coverage from the UK*. Your eligibility is based on payment of NI (National Insurance) contributions for the two years prior to your departure for Spain.

Contact DWP – the Department of Work & Pensions, before moving to Spain, and ask whether you qualify for the E106.

Once you have the E106, it should then be taken to the local state sickness insurance office in Spain. The local Ayuntamiento or Health Care Authority should be able to tell you where the closest office to you is.

Should the E106 form expire and you are still not eligible for S1 (formerly E121), you become responsible for arranging your own health cover which may also mean paying voluntary contributions to Spain’s national insurance scheme, arranging your own private cover, or both.

* For a limited time and may not be available for much longer. This also includes members of your family who depend on you (and who live with you)

The autonomous healthcare authorities in Spain

More from Living in Spain

---