If you are unemployed in Spain and 90 days have passed since you received the last unemployment payment you were entitled, then you also loose the right to free public health assistance. The public health system although it is financed through the tax office only benefits
> Those that contribute into the health system through paying the “stamp” and pensioners on the social security system.
> Family members that are registered as dependant on the above.
> people that have a income of less than 6,390.€ a year in2010. This amount is taking into account all those that are dependants in a household.
> People with a registered incapacity that exceeds 33%
> If you are retired British citizen or from a European state that has a reciprocal agreement with Spain, on a state pension and live in Spain you should be covered by that agreement.
If a unemployed person finds himself in situations that is not included in the above then you have to make it on your own.
A friend of mine found in a difficult situation in 2008 when he was unemployed for a time after being self employed for 8 years. He was not entitled to any benefit at all and his right to medical assistance also stopped for himself and his 3 children!. There was a solution in his case. He went to the medical centre and registered as a dependant of his wife who was in employment at the time so he was able to get medical assistance without a bill being produced. Another case was a friend who also self employed and then became unemployed. His wife was not working. There Son was diagnosed with cancer but was denied treatment because his father was no longer covered and because the son was registered as a dependant was no longer entitled and any treatment & medicine had to be paid for. It was a awful time for this family. Eventually employment was found and the treatment started again.
If you need to change your details and register as a dependant you will need to take your SIP card with your Padron and Libro de Familla if you have children to your local doctor to be registered as a dependant. Its best not to wait until you are ill to do this but rather find out what your status is beforehand as not to get any nasty surprises.