The Spanish economy has been among the worst hit by the financial crisis. However, little is known about what the crisis has done to health disparities by income. Using the Spanish Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) panel data for the period 2004-2012, we apply a decomposition method to unravel the contributions of income growth, income inequality and differential income mobility across socio-demographic groups to changes in health disparities by income. We find a modest rise in health inequality by income in Spain in the five years of economic growth prior to the start of the crisis in 2009, but a sharp fall after 2009. The drop mainly derives from the fact that loss of employment and earnings has disproportionately affected the incomes of the younger and healthier groups rather than the incomes of the over 65s. While this suggests that unequal distribution of income protection by age may reduce health inequality in the short run after an economic recession, it remains to be seen whether the fiscal austerity policy measures have changed this effect in the longer run.