Universal Healthcare in the Valencia Region?

to assist anyone with residency or not to apply for healthcare cover when they do not have the options to do so from employment, convenio especial or exporting healthcare cover from their country of origin.

It should be known that the Spanish government took the Valencia GVA to court to ask that their universal healthcare law of 2014 be repealed. The GVA appealed and won.

Article 1. Object 1. The purpose of this decree is to develop the content of Decree *Law 3/2015, of July 24, of the Consell, which regulates universal access to health care in the Valencian Community, especially in reference to the specification of the scope of application, the simplification of the documentation and the procedure of the persons who meet the requirements of article 6 of the aforementioned decree-law and the establishment of the procedure for the persons referred to in the first additional provision 1.

2 In this development, elements of modernisation and simplification must be introduced through digitisation in the Population Information System (SIP) of the application procedures and accreditation of health coverage.

2. Special situations include people, Spanish and foreign, with effective residence in the Valencian Community, who, not being able to accept what is described in the previous section, can be included in the cases defined in the first additional provision 1 of Decree Law 3 /2015, situations that include the following groups of people:

a) Users considered to be of legal age, not registered or authorised, who present a justified lack of any requirement or document accrediting the general situation described in section 1 of this article.

b) Citizens according to the provisions of Royal Decree Law 16/2012, of April 20, who cannot be considered foreigners of legal age, not registered or authorised to reside in Spain, when their specific circumstances so require. In these cases, the same inclusion criteria will be applied as for unregistered or unauthorised users of legal age.

c) Spanish citizens or minors born in Spain, who cannot acquire the status of insured or beneficiary of the National Health System due to lack of the specific documentation requested by the National Social Security Institute.

d) Foreigners with a residence permit for studies and their direct relatives up to the first degree by consanguinity and affinity, in cases that are justified by specific circumstances.

e) Resident foreigners due to family reunification who, due to being ascendants, cannot obtain the status of beneficiaries by the National Institute of Social Security.

f) Spanish people returned or temporarily staying in the Valencian Community, in cases that do not maintain the status of insured of the National Institute of Social Security, nor do they have exportable coverage from their country of residence.

g) Refugees and people included in international protection programs, until the corresponding situation is formally established by the competent administration.

h) Non-resident foreign minors, included in special solidarity programs for specific medical treatment.

i) Non-resident foreign minors, included in special programs for minors, for temporary stays in the Valencian Community for reasons other than their state of health.

j) Foreign persons from countries that cannot receive treatment in their country of origin with whom the Generalitat formalises, within the jurisdictional framework of current legislation, an agreement for health care with financial consideration.

In the special situations a) to f) described, an individual social report containing the specific annotations will be required to justify said special situation.

*Article 6 of Law 3/2015.

Article 6. Inclusion requirements.

Persons who, not having the status of insured or beneficiaries of the national health system, in accordance with the provisions of articles 2 and 3 of Royal Decree 1192/2012, of August 3, may benefit from the provisions of this decree-law. meet the following requirements:

1. Being a foreigner, of legal age, not registered or authorised to reside in Spain.
2. Evidence that you are registered with effective residence in a municipality of the Valencian Community for a minimum of three months.
3. Not having the status of insured or beneficiary of the national health system recognised by the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) or the Social Institute of the Navy (ISM), nor having the possibility of access to public health coverage by any other title and not being able to export the right to health coverage from the country of origin or provenance.
4. Not being able to access health coverage in the SNS under the Community regulations and existing international agreements on health care.
5. Prove, through the corresponding social report, the impossibility of signing the special agreement referred to in Decree 190/2013, of December 20, of the Consell.

(Articles 2 and 3 of the royal decree 1192/2012 repealed and replaced with the articles  below of the Universal Healthcare law of 2018 (found on our website) and not respected by some of the CCAA regions.

“Article 3. Holders of the right to health protection and health care.

1. Holders of the right to health protection and health care are all persons with Spanish nationality and foreign persons who have established their residence in Spanish territory.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, people with the right to health care in Spain in application of the community regulations for the coordination of Social Security systems or of the bilateral agreements that include the provision of health care, will have access to it, provided that residing in Spanish territory or during their temporary displacements to Spain, in the manner, extent and conditions established in the indicated community or bilateral provisions.

2. To make effective the right referred to in section 1 charged to the public funds of the competent administrations, the holders of the aforementioned rights must be in one of the following cases:

a) Have Spanish nationality and habitual residence in Spanish territory.

b) Have their right to health care in Spain recognised by any other legal title, even if they do not have their habitual residence in Spanish territory, provided that there is no third party obligated to pay for said care.

c) Being a foreign person with legal and habitual residence in Spanish territory and not having the obligation to prove the obligatory coverage of the health service by another means.

3. Those persons who, in accordance with section 2, are not entitled to health care from public funds, may obtain said benefit by paying the corresponding consideration or fee derived from signing a special agreement.

4. The provisions of the previous sections of this article do not modify the health care regime of the holders or beneficiaries of the special regimes managed by the General Mutual Society of State Civil Servants, the General Judicial Mutual Society and the Social Forces Institute. Armed Forces, which will maintain their specific legal regime.»

Two. Article 3 bis is modified, which is worded in the following terms:

«Article 3 bis. Recognition of the right to health protection and health care from public funds.

1. The recognition and control of the right to health protection and health care charged to public funds will correspond to the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare with the collaboration of essential public entities and administrations to verify the concurrence of the requirements. referred to in article 3.2, in the manner determined by regulation.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the management of health care rights derived from the international standards for the coordination of social security systems, as well as the other functions attributed by said standards to the competent institutions and liaison bodies, will correspond to the National Institute of Social Security.

2. Once the right to health protection and health care from public funds is recognised, this will be made effective by the competent health administrations, which will facilitate citizens’ access to health care benefits by issuing individual health card.

3. The competent bodies in matters of immigration may notify the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare and the public entities and administrations referred to in section 1, without the consent of the interested party, the data that is essential to carry out the necessary verification of the recognition and control of the right to health protection and health care from public funds.

In the same way, the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare and the public entities and administrations referred to in section 1, may process the data contained in the files of the managing entities, common services and bodies of the competent public administrations. that are essential to verify the concurrence of the recognition and control of the aforementioned right. The aforementioned transfer of these data will not require the consent of the interested party.

The Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare and the entities and public administrations referred to in section 1, will process the information referred to in the two preceding paragraphs in order to notify the competent health administrations of the necessary data to verify at all times that the conditions and requirements demanded for the recognition of the right to health protection and health care at public funds are maintained)

First section of the above from the GVA Valencia.

Consolidated legislation

How to make your application online: 

CONSELLERIA DE SANIDAD UNIVERSAL Y SALUD PÚBLICA

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.