Moving back from Spain and need help with benefits

BottomRung

I can't offer any advice that hasn't already been posted but you sound like a decent chap and have taken some of the more critical posts well so I wish you luck in coming home to Blighty. Shame it all went wrong in Spain as it's a lovely country with a great climate! :beer:

missapril75

ILW wrote: »

soon come running back to the UK when the Spanish do not pay as much benefits as you would like.

They haven't had Spanish benefits (other than sun:)) and they are returning for accommodation related issues.

paddedjohn wrote: »

If you had moved to Scotland (part of the UK) then it would have saved the UK a few bob because the benefits you received would have been spent here in the UK and helped our economy rather than Spain's.

Remembering of course that they have not taken the additional benefits that would have been due nor have they been using UK health services, so they have actually saved the UK a few bob.;)

BottomRung wrote: »

...you sound like a decent chap and have taken some of the more critical posts well so I wish you luck in coming home to Blighty.

Well said.

Dunroamin

missapril75 wrote: »

Remembering of course that they have not taken the additional benefits that would have been due nor have they been using UK health services, so they have actually saved the UK a few bob.;)

The UK pays for the healthcare of its nationals who live in other EU countries; that's what the E forms (as SDW says, now S1) are for. You surely don't think that France and Spain have to pay all the health costs of the Brits who are retired there?

krisskross

missapril75 wrote: »

Remembering of course that they have not taken the additional benefits that would have been due nor have they been using UK health services, so they have actually saved the UK a few bob.;)

The UK pays for the health care for British citizens given in Spain. the Spanish are not that altruistic.

FBaby

well only if they are getting a UK pension of Incapacity Benefits (I believe), you can't retire at 30, move to Spain, become a resident and expect all your healthcare to be paid for there!

Dunroamin

FBaby wrote: »

well only if they are getting a UK pension of Incapacity Benefits (I believe), you can't retire at 30, move to Spain, become a resident and expect all your healthcare to be paid for there!

You get reciprocal health care for up to 2 years if you've been working and after that you have to contribute to the country's health service or take out private insurance.

That's why I commented about the E111/EHIC, which lots of younger Brits use fraudulently when living abroad.

seven-day-weekend

Dunroamin wrote: »

The UK pays for the healthcare of its nationals who live in other EU countries; that's what the E forms (as SDW says, now S1) are for. You surely don't think that France and Spain have to pay all the health costs of the Brits who are retired there?

Only if they are of retirement age or on a qualifying Benefit such as (the old) Incapacity Benefit. People may also be covered for up to two years if they have paid enough NI, at the right time, in the UK. If none of these apply, they either have to pay into the system in the foreign country to access their healthcare, or get private medical insurance, or go without any healthcare cover ( many expats I know in Spain come under this category), or try to blag it using the EHIC.

When we first moved to Spain, in our 50s, I was covered for healthcare for two years because I had paid enough NI in the UK immediately before I left for Spain. My husband was covered because he was on long-term Incapacity Benefit (which is exportable to European countries and entitles you to Healthcare of the country). When my cover ran out, because I had no income, I was put on my husband's cover as his dependent, so we were both covered for Healthcare in Spain. When I became of retirement age, I was again covered in my own right as a Pensioner. All this paid for by the UK.

We also both had an EHIC card to cover us for sickness/accident arising whilst visiting other European countries (including the UK). Originally this was issued by Spain, but the law changed a couple of years back and then we had one issued by the UK.

We were not allowed to access the British NHS for anything other than an accident/sickness arising whilst we were actually in the UK. We were treated like any other visitor from the EU with an EHIC card.

Now we are both back resident in the UK, we can of course the the NHS and if we visit another EU country, we are covered by the EHIC card.

Hope this helps.

C_Mababejive

This thread is weaving around a bit no doubt fuelled by a certain amount of envy but there is no need to be envious. As the OP has already hinted, life in Spain may seem great but thats because most people see it through their rose tinted holiday spectacles.

For many Brits who live there it is a different matter. Many live humdrum boring lives in social isolation either living on their own or in Brit Ghettos.

The cost of living in Spain is a heck of a lot dearer than in blighty.

For a start,there isnt the white hot competition that you see in the supermarkets over here. There isnt the competition for utilities either.


The Spanish do stick together and look after their own and will be more than happy to exploit a foreigner given the chance. also when dealing with officialdom in Spain in its many forms, if you dont speak Spanish,you are stuffed. Dont expect a translator.

Staring out to sea or hanging around with the Brits down at the local bar (AKA The Red Lion) can get tedious once youve done it for a few months but then you can find yourself trapped by the inability to return to blighty.

It isnt all Sun ,Sea,Sangria and stuffed donkeys..

needelp

Nothing to do with my case in question but thought I would tell you about a friend who not knowing the rules returned to Great Britain to have an operation to take out a rampant cancer. The main reason for doing this was because of the family support he would get in the UK.

It all went ok until the hospital found out he had residencia in Spain.

The refused him any after care for the cancer operation and told him to go back to Spain for it ie; chemo or radio therapy etc I cant remember.

Fair enough that's the rules but he caught MRSA in hospital and couldn't travel by plane because of the pneumonia and was advised not to make the journey by road either.

They treated him for quite a few weeks for the MRSA but even though his cancer treatment was at this time an emergency and he was going downhill fast there was no other treatment available to him.

In the end he did make the journey by road and was treated in Spain and lasted anther couple of years. The Spanish also had to get rid of his MRSA which wasn't going away in an English hospital at that time.

I don't mention all this to get any moral issue answers but to warn other residents in countries such as Spain, that may be reading this now popular thread, the dangers of returning to their home country for serious health issues. needelp.

shop-to-drop

needelp wrote: »

Nothing to do with my case in question but thought I would tell you about a friend who not knowing the rules returned to Great Britain to have an operation to take out a rampant cancer. The main reason for doing this was because of the family support he would get in the UK.

It all went ok until the hospital found out he had residencia in Spain.

The refused him any after care for the cancer operation and told him to go back to Spain for it ie; chemo or radio therapy etc I cant remember.

Fair enough that's the rules but he caught MRSA in hospital and couldn't travel by plane because of the pneumonia and was advised not to make the journey by road either.

They treated him for quite a few weeks for the MRSA but even though his cancer treatment was at this time an emergency and he was going downhill fast there was no other treatment available to him.

In the end he did make the journey by road and was treated in Spain and lasted anther couple of years. The Spanish also had to get rid of his MRSA which wasn't going away in an English hospital at that time.

I don't mention all this to get any moral issue answers but to warn other residents in countries such as Spain, that may be reading this now popular thread, the dangers of returning to their home country for serious health issues. needelp.

Was your friend retired (old enough for state pension)?