Also, universal medical coverage in Spain covers you and all your family members, without additional cost. E.g. if you're married and having 4 kids, all 6 people would be 100% covered by the public health insurance. E.g. If you have a child with problems requiring medical treatments costing 2 millions of USD (e.g. unlimited surgeries, unlimited hospital time, unlimited treatment), it would be covered.
My question: what happens if you lose your job as a foreign worker (say, too sick to keep working)? The family scenarios are all also covered by my US employee-based coverage, with a small-compared-to-the-salary-numbers out-of-pocket annual max, but in the US where you can get screwed is if you get too sick to work.
If you're salaried, and get too sick to work, that would be covered. I.e. you're not going to be kicked out of the country like it could happen in the USA. Think of Spain like soft-socialism capitalism (pretty much like most countries in the European Union), with massive worker protection. In case of not being able to work at all, you'll get a for-life pension and full health-care coverage until you die, even if it takes e.g. 50 years.
If you're a Eurozone citizen (not necessarily an E.U. member), you can enjoy that exactly like being a Spanish citizen. For corner cases, e.g. a Briton in the post-Brexit scenario (or someone from countries outside the EU, so you would also require a work visa), working with visa would have same protection as local citizens. In that regard, Spain is quite humanist. So please, talented people from the UK, USA, and from everywhere in the World, you're very welcome to come to Spain and help making this place better! :-)
Up to 4 days (sickness paid leave): your employer pays your full salary.
Between 4 days and 1.5-2 years (temporary disability / incapacidad temporal): the state pays you 60 to 75% of your salary (depending on some specific conditions, whether it was a work-related issue or not, etc.). You and your entire family keep all social benefits, including healthcare.
More than 2 years (permanent disability / incapacidad permanente): I don't really know, but I suspect it depends even more on the specifics. These are always hairy cases, even for natives.
After you become a permanent resident in a EU country, you are no longer legally a "foreign worker" but rather state services treat you the same as any native-born person.
So googling says this is available to apply for after 5 years for Spain. Which suggests that the health care benefits may not be substantially better for quite some time after moving. Especially if moving from the US and giving up several tens of thousands of dollars per year in salary.
The last part of this sentence makes thing increasingly unclear-sounding:
> You have to prove that you have adequate financial resources to provide for you and your family (if applicable) – such as pension, scholarship or salary – and proof of public or private health insurance with a company authorised to operate in Spain.
Why would you need health insurance of your own if you'd end up on a state plan?
You can't just take the first plane to Spain and say, "please treat my cancer for free because my country refuses to spend any money on me". This do not work like this.
Spain has health agreements with many countries concerning its citizens. Sometimes they are symmetric, other not so. If Spain will be billed if a Spaniard needs to use the public health care system in the country X, then the country X will be billed in return also if one of their citizens needs to receive public health care in Spain. As foreigner turist either your country or your insurance will pay for you, but you are guaranteed to be treated by fine physicians if you really need it.
You could need a health insurance if you are a retired citizen of other country living as expat in Spain but that never worked there, (therefore never contributed to support the public health-care system).
Because you can apply for permanent residency while being retired and living your elder days under the spanish sun, in which case you don't get health coverage because you are not (and never were) a spanish worker.
If you have been working in spain, you are covered by the spanish public health system which is your proof of public health insurance right there. Also, so long as you keep being an "active worker" (that means either actually working or inscribed in the public job-seeking people registry INEM) you will maintain your health coverage whether you are a permanent resident or not.
If you work legally (EU Shengen area, or having a work visa) with salary, for a company, you have full public health coverage for you and your family, just like every Spanish citizen (Spanish citizens have public universal health-care coverage even being unemployed).
