Moving abroad

Neil2018

Hi, my name is Neil and I am new to the forum. I am 60 years old and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis 5 years ago. I have been through the medication route going from Methotrexate to Sulfasalazine and then to Adlimumab and have progressed to Golimumab injections once a month with Sulfasalazine daily tablets. This current medication is working very well, however my wife and I are now considering moving to Spain to live. We should both be covered by an S1 form health cover as my wife is over retirement age, but as Golimumab is a very expensive medication, I wondered if anyone has experience whether the cost would be covered in Spain?

Regards, Neil

Ellen

Hi Neil welcome to the online community.

This is an interesting one and I honestly do not know the answer, hopefully one of our members does.

Presumably you have already read this?

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/moving-abroad/planning-your-healthcare/

We do from time to time have posts from people based in other countries. It might be worth reading these posts and seeing if any of the posters are still regulars. If so someone might know the answers you are seeking:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/search?domain=all_content&query=living%20in%20spain&scope=site&source=community

I do hope you are able to get your medication and can go to live in Spain.

Best wishes

Ellen.

stickywicket

Great that you're planning. So take your time to research thoroughly. I've had a quick glance here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-spain-including-the-balearic-and-canary-islands

To be honest I wouldn't do it without knowing much more stuff specific to myself.Most countries require patients to pay a proportion of treatment. As you say your biologic med is expensive. So are orthopaedic operations.

Please let us know how you get on. It could be very helpful to others.

And good luck 😀

Neil2018

Thanks for your help. I have read through all the Gov.uk information, but it is quite confusing and doesn't mention high cost medication specifically. Hopefully someone may know from past experience or could advise me who I could contact.

Regards, Neil

stickywicket

Sorry, I only 'lived' there many, many moons ago when I was a student at uni there.

I wonder if the Spanish Embassy could help.

We went through similar when toying with moving near our son in California. We were told you could get Medicare after three years if your child was a US citizen. He is a US citizen but I couldn't guarantee to stay healthy for three years so we moved near the other son in Scotland. Just as well as it turned out.

Nurina

I've been checking the informatio on the Spanish government website and it's as confusing as the information on the UK government. I'd contact the NHS overseas department and ask. Good luck