Private health insurance (again).

[Geotherm]

Today my wife went to the local Sanitaria office to renew her cover. Despite having renewed to full residency ( after the initial 5 years ) with the original E111 earlier this month, she was told that she now needs the E121 form for health cover. She is of retirement age, but no movement from the official as to what she had to supply.
Called DWP in England and they are sending the form by registered post. Interesting thing is that they said register your husband as a dependant on the E121 and there should be no problems with medical cover.
Worth calling the DWP in England if you have problems getting cover if you are of retirement age.

[Geotherm]

Just as a test, following on from the previous post. On Monday, wife went to the Sanitaria again......... different receptionist ........ very helpful. Checked her file and said we have the E121 here already, so there is no problem. Previous " jobsworth " could obviously not be bothered to get off her chair to check the details and just made phone calls.
New rules apparently are that you need to renew your certificate every year now for the doctor.

[Gala Placidia]

You are right Geotherm, sometimes it is worth going to check twice on what they tell you... If I notice that the receptionist is not cooperative or could not care less I always go back at another time when, hopefully, he/she is not around.... I guess it is human nature, but inefficient people do complicate our daily lives!!!!

[Noble]

Thanks Geotherm but I do believe they make it up as they go along. My husband takes so many pills he rattles and goes to the Doctor every month to renew his presciptions. He has never had to renew anything else, having filled out all the forms about 9 years ago! We are in Umbria where the health service is outstanding.

[pilchard]

Have been reading Chrisnotton’s post of 19th June with great interest. I only wish I’d seen it earlier. Having bought an Italian property as Prima Casa I need to hurry up and get my residency before the 18 month period of grace expires & am required to pay back the property tax that was discounted.
I now wonder how Chris has got on and has he gained any further information as I am on the brink of calling the DWP. Fore-warned is fore-armed
I have a few queries and wonder if Chris, or anyone else, is able to answer them.
- My partner & I are both self-employed in the UK, still paying Class 2 NI and deriving income from holiday property rentals. Although this requires us to spend little time in the UK, we both have other strings to our self-employment bows & we can, & do, spend time working in the UK. Have heard/read that for a self-employed persons E106 to be issued there is a requirement that at least 6 months is spent working in the UK. I haven’t a clue if we do or not. Will the DWP ask me to prove it, or just take my word that I do?
- Although my reason for applying for an E106 is just to get residency, which is purely just so I can save myself the difference in property tax between Prima Casa & Secondo Casa, & this needs to be done fairly urgently, I wonder if it would be a good idea if my other half were to make an application at the same time. What are the pro’s & con’s? Of course having access to the state health system here is possibly reason enough itself but the plastic EHICard has served me well so far; 2008 has been an unlucky year for me.
- I have been horrified to hear it said that once the UK has issued you with an E106 you can no longer access NHS treatment. This is exactly what was told by DWP to a young couple we know, although the difference between them & us is that they are not self -employed in the UK and are not paying Class 2 NI contributions. I am hoping that by continuing to pay Class 2, should I desire to re-locate back there, full NHS rights will be mine. Chris says that you never get asked for an NI number by the NHS, but if you were changing GP’s you probably would be.
Pilch

[chrisnotton]

Ciao Pilchard,
I have now received my workers E106. They only issued me with an annually renewable one I am remonstrating withe them about this. It appears that they are reluctant to issue anythin else because of "abuses of the system". I am looking into whether they can be forced to issue me with a longer validity certificate. However I will present this one to the Commune in a couple of weeks.

Concerning proof about working in the U.K. I asked about this and they said that it was not an existing requirement to the issue of the certificate but If the situation were to change then they might request travel records be kept. The 6 months doesn't have to be continious, you can go home at weekends.

I recently changed GP. Nothing was checked. I asked and they said N.I. numbers stay with you for life & are never checked with the DWP. I don't think you will have a problem if your N.I. contributions are kept up as this will automatically keep you "alive" in the system.
My feeling is that as long as your N.I. contributuions roll in then the form will automatically be renewed on request.

Other things:
If one of you is resident in Italy & the other in The UK then the spouse/partner will be covered under the spouse/family rules in the non-resident country. This is what we are doing currently.

You only have to duck & dive for 5 years & then you get full entitlement in Italy anyway.

Will let you know how I get on at the Commune in Sept!

Pip pip

[jepsonclough]

Originally Posted by chrisnotton

Yeah right! Have you ever been asked for your N.I. number in hospital? No neither have I

No but you do get asked for your name, address and doctor's details - from these NHS records they will know what your NI & NHS numbers are & hence whether you are covered. SInce 2003 there have been stricter restrictions because of health tourists - treatment is restricted to emergency treatment only or for infectious diseases so if you have an existing condition & come to the Uk to try to get treatment you are likely to be asked to pay upfront.

BBC NEWS | Health | 'Health tourism' rules unveiled

Chris

[adriatica]

chris

interesting ... sort of a related story... earlier this year whilst picking up pellets whilst they were being loaded on our trailer the forklift nudged the door which dropped on my head... i know should have been standing further away or wearing one of those funny helmets... but who does here...

anyway drove home and as i habitually wear a baseball cap it managed to contain the stuff poring out of my head... after a couple of hours when the blood would not stop pouring out... stuck a few rolls of kitchen towel on top...wedged in place with another cap and drove off to Teramo hospital... emergency room people could see it was pretty bloody underneath ht as by now it was leaking out down my face again... so got taken in fairly quickly... doctor took my health card and filled out details and then proceeded to interrogate me suggesting i was from eastern Europe and working here illegally and that it had been a work related accident....hence my delay in rushing straight to hospital...

it took a lot of talking before she would bother telling a nurse to start treating the wound.... obviously hospitals here now have instructions to check accident patients that are non Italian.... saying this... it was luckily for me shift change time... the dragon that seemed to think despite my UK ID that i was Albanian went away and the new doctor that took over was much more rational....
i feel sorry for those that end up in front of the former doctor if they do happen to come from one of the Eastern EU areas...

however i guess the point is that emergencey treatment now and the staff that work there are used to control details and am sure my accident details were most probably passed onto whatever agency controls these things and my status as regards living here was checked... for those that might think i am paranoid regarding this question it is a fact now that estate agents are required to identify clients and hold records of all money transfers so that the agenzia entrata can check these details if they so wish.....

[Angie and Robert]

And I noticed this week John that there were many more checks at the regular Fermo clinic I have started to attend, and this was for all patients not just me, it was all done very pleasantly, but my Tessera was taken away and only returned just before I left, this has never happened before in the nearly 3 years we have been here, so it would seem that new instructions have been issued to staff with regard to controls.
Hopefully this may alert people living here who have not yet sorted out their eligibility to Italian NHS care, it does seem new rules are in place.
Hope you are recovered from the head injury.
Angie

[bosco]

Originally Posted by pilchard

I am hoping that by continuing to pay Class 2, should I desire to re-locate back there, full NHS rights will be mine.
Pilch

As I understand it, as a UK citizen who has the right to Iive in the UK, you cannot lose your NHS rights permanently - you only lose them for the period in which you are resident in another country.

Whether you continue to pay contributions or not, if you relocate back to the UK you will immediately receive full NHS healthcare rights (though it is possible that checks might be made to ensure that you are undertaking a genuine relocation rather than engaging in health tourism from your former country of residence).