A STATEMENT FROM THE BRITISH EMBASSY

The Valencian Government has announced the replacement of the Circular 1/2002 with a new law – the Ley de Aseguramiento Sanitario – that came into effect as from June 5. The Circular 1/2002 scheme allowed people with no entitlement to health care to access the system free of charge, whilst the new law aims to regulate and control free access to the Valencian Health Care system. The people that will be most affected by this measure are British Nationals who do not have access to the State health system through an E121 or E106, or who do not pay contributions to the Spanish Social Security system. These are mainly early retirees who do not work in Spain and who accessed the system through a legislation letter issued by the Health Service in the UK. The new measures mean in effect that those in possession of a valid card will not have their entitlements removed, but when the card expires, cover cannot be renewed, and no new applicants will be accepted onto the scheme. Those who are in this situation and to not have entitlements to health care through E121, E106 or the Spanish Health system should consider taking out some form of private insurance. More information is available online at www.dh.gov.uk