Question
Can EU citizens access free HIV care in Spain?
19 August 2021. Related: All topics, Travel.
I’m moving to Spain for retirement. I’m a EU citizen. Do I need to pay for ARVs; blood tests etc or are they for free?
Answer
I am sorry that i-Base is focussed on HIV treatment rather than travel, immigration and access in other countries.
We always recommend contacting Spanish organisation for advice, including gTt in Barcelona.
The last year has been especially complicated due to Brexit and COVID-19 and I have heard of some people from the UK having access to ART and monitoring but not others.
As Ireland is still luckily a member of the EU things might easily be very different for you. At one point all EU citizens were able to access care in other member countries but some countries, including Spain, sometimes made exceptions due to the cost of treatment.
i-Base is based in the UK where things have become much more difficult in terms of accessing care in the EU.
I think there are various ways to link care but best to check with organisations that specialise in treatment access and travel. This is the best site I know but I am not sure when the information on Spain was updated and so might be out of date.
https://www.hivtravel.org/Default.aspx?PageId=143&CountryId=163
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