Spain travel insurance - now mandatory?

Juno_Moneta

Off to Ibiza soon and usually don’t bother with travel insurance (yes I know it’s good - please can this thread focus on the rule change itself and not ‘why don’t you have it’!)

Just read about a new rule change and potential border checks for it. 

Anyone else heard about this? Searched MSE news but surprised it’s not being discussed at all!

https://moneyweek.com/spending-it/travel-holidays/new-spanish-travel-insurance-rule

https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/spain-cracks-down-with-bold-new-travel-rule-forcing-global-tourists-to-secure-full-health-insurance-or-face-steep-fines-and-border-denial-this-summer/

badmemory

If this is true it is not a surprise.  Since we exited the EU the treatment we can receive has changed.  They have probably become tired of treating people & not receiving payment for that treatment.  It sounds like a sensible move on their part.

la531983

badmemory said:

If this is true it is not a surprise.  Since we exited the EU the treatment we can receive has changed.  They have probably become tired of treating people & not receiving payment for that treatment.  It sounds like a sensible move on their part.

Saying that, its likely rarely enforced, bit like the "you must have £XX per day on you to enter" clickbait stories that also do the rounds.

heatherw_01

I have flagged the thread as being of interest to MSE as this is something quite important and I hadn't heard about it either until now. Thanks for bringing it up.

It does seem you need comprehensive health cover otherwise you could get a €6,900 fine as they are doing checks at the border.

Done some searching and yes it does seem this is the case.
I guess checks will probably be random so you may not get checked, but if you have health issues and go to the hospital and you may end up getting a fine then too?

We still have GHIC cards in the UK so seems unfair that we would be forced to have full health cover on travel insurance too.

I always travel with insurance, but I totally understand many don't want to such as yourself.

I think the reason is that you don't end up costing the Spanish government money if you fell ill.

Honestly I think the idea is quite good (don't hate me lol) and I think we should have the same rule here for travellers to the UK.

twopenny

Was a time when you couldn't book a holiday package without travel insurance. I remember First Choice, Thompsons and Saga doing that.

Just tried a search and only came up with insurance companies that had this in the title.
No government website.
Doesn't mean it's not so. Government agencies are notoriously slow at amending their sites.

Ah found it.
The Mirror and Euro news are saying this but the Citizens Advice Bureau Spain are up to date 
https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/healthcare-cover-for-visitors-to-spain/

Juno_Moneta

heatherw_01 said:

I have flagged the thread as being of interest to MSE as this is something quite important and I hadn't heard about it either until now. Thanks for bringing it up.

Thanks Heather - it would be great to see an official MSE comment on this that we would all trust. 

TELLIT01

If every country had this as a prerequisite for visiting it would stop a potentially large number of people getting into problems 'abroad' i.e. away from their own country, and then getting on social media etc pleading for help.

MattMattMattUK

This sounds like a very sensible idea, something that the UK should absolutely implement. 

DullGreyGuy

Juno_Moneta said:

heatherw_01 said:

I have flagged the thread as being of interest to MSE as this is something quite important and I hadn't heard about it either until now. Thanks for bringing it up.

Thanks Heather - it would be great to see an official MSE comment on this that we would all trust. 

Would trust the Foreign Office much more than MSE. Even during Covid it was more accurate than some countries own websites about entry requirements which were often fluid with regular changes 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements

user1977

I expect it would never actually be enforced (in any significant way) as an entry requirement - imagine the immigration queues if everyone has to dig out (and translate) their insurance details.

DullGreyGuy

user1977 said:

I expect it would never actually be enforced (in any significant way) as an entry requirement - imagine the immigration queues if everyone has to dig out (and translate) their insurance details.

Depends how they decided to do it... during covid we had to submit test results before boarding for some countries and so all you showed at the border was the confirmation number that your results had been accepted which they presumably put into their system to confirm passport and code matches. 

Clearly it's open to abuse, but so was the test results.