hippyshake

Actually, they´re not breaching a EU agreement. The EU guarantees only reciprocal emergency treatment to people who are in the country temporarily eg on holiday. If you are a resident you are subject to the country´s rules for access to healthcare.

Even Spanish self-employed people have no entitlement to free treatment if they have not paid enough in. Three months after you stop paying your autonomo contributions, you don´t have any more entitlement, no matter how much you´ve paid in!!! When you are autonomo you also do not get dole money if you are out of work. If you are employed on a contract and subsequently unemployed, then you are entitled to medical and dole - its a very unfair system.

The UK has a residence-based NHS so no matter how much how much NI contributions you´ve paid you´re not entitled there either unless you´re resident in the UK. A piece of advice - don´t de-register with your doctor or you could find yourself with no medical treatment unless you have private insurance and that won´t cover you for serious illness. Once you´ve been away from the UK for more than 3 months and are living in another country you have no NHS entitlement - unless you are a pensioner as there is a reciprocal agreement for pensioners.

Not fair - of course it isn´t! There´s a campaign gaining ground by expats in Spain trying to get the law changed in the UK as most of us have paid into the system for decades and are now entitled to nothing. I´ll post details of that in a separate thread.

The upside ain´t that great Jazmines11 - you have to pay into the spanish system for a minimum of 15 years and that only gets you a half pension. How much you pay in determines how big your pension is and 246 a month is the minimum you can pay! It´s very expensive to be self-employed here.

People who can expect a UK pension are OK but those who are younger don´t have that to look forward to.

JazminesII

I know non-residents EU nationals who have received free non emergency NHS treatment in the UK. I also know Spanish ex-pats who have gone back to the UK for free NHS treatment despite having residence in Spain (very wrong but true).

You may also like to know I have neighbours who have only been resident for a couple of years, one partner is working and both parties are entitled to free Spanish healthcare.

On the spanish pension front, I’m fine with that…..why should you get something out if you haven’t paid in. Shame the UK does not take that approach. I too am really annoyed that despite paying in for years in the UK by the time I retire there will be nothing left (or at least nothing worth having). I am all for the Spanish system because it means only those who have paid in over the duration can take out and not only that the pensioners are well looked after.