Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
AkoAko
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Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby AkoAko » Wed May 24, 2017 10:33 am

My wife has worked in Spain for 13 of the 14 years we have been here always with contracts although she worked from 40 to 48 hours the contracts ranged from 5 to 20 hours as is the norm here however it did provide Seguros for her and myself . Eight years ago the business my wife worked for wanted to end the contracts for the three people they employed saying they couldn't afford them and they would be working without contracts , my wife refused and left . She didn't make any unemployment claim at the time and a few months later we had to visit the doctor and were told our Seguros were suspended and we couldn't have treatment due to the fact she had officially made herself unemployed . She found employment a few weeks later and everything was fine until a couple of years ago when the business closed down and that time she registered as unemployed , the benefit was not worth claiming but we did so because we wanted to retain medical cover for us both .

Last week her current employer gave all the staff a weeks notice as she is selling the business and the new owners dont want to employ anyone so my wife will register for unemployment again and will have 6 months of benefit until its exhausted , at 57 the chances of work are slim in this area now however the financial side is not a problem however i have a condition that requires regular visits to the doctor and were concerned that after the unemployment contribution benefit ends then so will the Medical cover provided through our Seguros . Has anyone knowledge or experience of this and if so is our understanding correct .

Gasman
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Location: Huelva province

Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby Gasman » Wed May 24, 2017 11:41 am

Get your wife to go the Social Security office with her current employment history and tell them what is happening. They may be offer a solution. If not, when she signs on at the Empleo office, she needs to ask them what her options are, and include the fact that she has a Dependant (you) to consider as well. As someone who has been in the Spanish system since before 2012 there may be a simple option.

elusive
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Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby elusive » Wed May 24, 2017 2:59 pm

If you were residents ie got your residencia before april 2012 then you are entiltled to free healthcare. So i guess thats your first option interms of claiming that. I also read stories on citizens advice website /facebook page of people who could still keep their healthcare in your situation because of the amounts of years they had paid in.

AkoAko
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Location: Spain

Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby AkoAko » Wed May 24, 2017 3:03 pm

I have friends who have the medical cover although they are under pensionable age acquired through being resident in April 2012 ,and meeting the other criteria , income , savings etc however unlike me they did not have a seguro which means i wont be able to get the cover as im technically already covered so i wouldn't meet the criteria although on every other basis i would , We have been residents for 14 years .

elusive
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Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby elusive » Wed May 24, 2017 7:54 pm

Dont see why you having seguro at one point should make any difference. Have yiu checked up on the 2012 rule and it says you cant claim because at one point you had it although only as a dependent?

Miro
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Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby Miro » Thu May 25, 2017 10:11 am

Don't know if this will help, but when we got cut of a few years ago, we had to re-register as "personas sin recursos físicos" i.e paupers (people with no physical income to support themselves). This did require us first obtaining the "legislation letters" from the Newcastle Department of Health, which I now understand are no longer issued and / or accepted, but perhaps the aforementioned status is still relevant.
Best of luck.
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Wicksey
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Re: Loss of Medical Cover for being Unemployed

Postby Wicksey » Thu May 25, 2017 4:56 pm

Miro, legislation letters are being issued again (they were in Nov 2016 anyway), they were reinstated after they were initially stopped last summer.

I just had to produce legislation letters from DWP Newcastle (to say we weren't on the UK system), latest Spanish tax return (to prove we are pobres .... ie earning under 100,000€!!) and our residencias to get registered. Fairly quick and easy in the end.


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