Healthcare entitlement

[Jimbo]

I have made Social contributions as an Autonomo for a number of years, but it is no longer viable for me to keep doing this and I am thinking of selling on or winding down my business. As I am still under 60, would I still be entitled to free state healthcare once I have stopped paying my monthly subscription ?

[AJC]

You will still be eligible to claim free state healthcare for 6 months after the point which you stop paying any contributions into the system, unless you are claiming any State benefit of any sort. After 6 months you either need to start paying some kind of subscription for this - like in Valencia - or take out private healtchare.

[Gulliver]

If your wife is either working or claiming a benefit then you 'might' be able to register as being dependant on her, and be entitled to S.S. cover that way.

[Jimbo]

My Wife is not working at the moment, however, if I have to pay for Private Healthcare for us both it seems that it will still be much cheaper than paying my monthly Autonomo in order to qualify.

[OldTimer]

If your sole interest here is the healthcare then I would agree, but don't forget that your Autonomo payment also effects your Spanish state pension.

[AJC]

It seems that after last week's royal decree changing healthcare entitlement, a lot of expats - especially pensioners - will lefy high and dry by the system once again. I expect to hear a number of horror stories about this subject over the next few months and hope that the British Government, or better still the EU, step in to ensure that things are handled properly and fairly.

[SimonCarter]

How many 'final nails in the coffin lid' can Spain keep coming up with ?

[Jimbo]

How many 'final nails in the coffin lid' can Spain keep coming up with ?

It is all too easy to be critical of the current Government, when all they are doing is trying to sort out the mess that 8 years of Socialist rule has left the country in. The same happened in the UK, although on a much smaller scale, and it is always the party who are charges with trying to rectify the problems left behind that get all the flack !