Expat Freeloaders in the Spanish Health System
British expats living in Spain use their European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) to get free healthcare in Spain—even though the card is designed to be used only for emergency care while tourists holiday in European countries.
In Alicante, 15-20% of all hospital admissions are British expats. Some Britons are looking at the Spanish hospitals and the British hospitals and choosing where they think they will receive the best, or quickest treatment and either going back to Britain or turning up at the Spanish hospitals with their Ehic.
If a patient turns up at a Spanish hospital or clinic, the doctor only has the patient’s word that the situation is an emergency and must treat accordingly. But Spanish politicians have had enough. Pressure is being applied to the SiMAP union, which represents public health doctors in Spain, to start tightening the budget even further, in order to restrict the expat freeloaders. Spanish doctors worry that this will restrict availability of resources (doctors, nurses and other staff as well as open treatment centres) and that this will have a negative impact on Spanish nationals as well as any legitimate emergencies among the expat and tourist groups.
The Spanish regions have begun to take measures to restrict the freeloaders. In Valencia expats below retirement age that are not registered as employed in Spain will no longer receive free healthcare.
Anecdotal evidence suggests there are thousands of male and female expats under the age of 65 working unregistered in Spain. Will Britain see a return of these expats now that their source of free healthcare in the sun has disappeared?
Yes the issue of Expat health care for the early retirees has become a big issue here since the withdrawal of Valencias free cover for all.
Abusing the EHIC scheme is not the solution either.
Yes maybe there will be an exodus as I predicted in a recent article (published elsewhere) ‘Has the Exodus Begun’
I do think the Valencia situation is hard on the people who are early retired, not working/freeloading but living off their own means, and bought property here in good faith before the change in the ruling on the understanding that years of contributions in the UK would meet with reciprocal entitlements in Spain. The whole situation is a bit of a mess, a lot of people are having to leave as a result, but many are trapped due to the property and currency market situations and just very anxious about what will happen if they become ill or injured… I don’t know what the answer is but for many of us it will add to anxieties about burning bridges in the UK.
I completely agree with Maya on this one, and it is a bit harsh calling many of them “freeloaders”! May people have come here to buy a holiday home or retire in the sun, they bring over all of their hard earned cash and pump it back in to the Spanish economy – and where would Spain be without it?