Nhs And Expats

[changhighlily]

Just been reading an article in the Uk Telegraph newspaper saying that anyone who lives in Europe for over 6 months lose all entitlement to NHS services.IE Doctors, Hospitals Social Services Etc. If you live out of Europe and in our case I mean Thailand it applies after 3 months. It does not matter if you have worked in the UK since you were 15 years old and have say paid 45 years contributions. You still lose out. What do you all think.

Lil

[Prakanong]

Just been reading an article in the Uk Telegraph newspaper saying that anyone who lives in Europe for over 6 months lose all entitlement to NHS services.IE Doctors, Hospitals Social Services Etc. If you live out of Europe and in our case I mean Thailand it applies after 3 months. It does not matter if you have worked in the UK since you were 15 years old and have say paid 45 years contributions. You still lose out. What do you all think.

Lil

I will be in that situation but am covered here in Singapore. If I go to the UK my travel insurance will have to cover me.

As for Europe though I thought you would be entitled to emergency treatment - probably still are but it will be elective treatment you are excluded from.

I can see there argument but others will be totally against it. There is an argument for those paying NI contributions still (although reduced)

I suppose that covers you for when you return to a permanent residency in the UK.

All in all I will be slaughtered for this and may probably fall fould myself but if you are a permanent resident elsewhere then why should you get free NHS treament any more

Yes you may have contributed but its not your fund so to say - it is a form of insurance as you go shall we say?

Ducks and leaves room quietly!

[duratanium]

A bit more info for those who have not read about this as yet.....

British expats who spend less than three months a year in the UK will no longer have automatic free access expat health clinics, hospitals and GPs, except for emergency treatment, such as for a heart attack. Those seeking medical treatment could be asked to prove their residency status by showing council tax bills, pay slips and records of National Insurance contributions. However, there are further guidelines stating that to be exempt from medical costs, British nationals living abroad need to have lived continuously in the UK for 10 years and either have not worked abroad for more than five years, or if they have, they need to have taken home leave to the UK once every two years.

Confused yet? So is the NHS it seems. To make matters worse, there have been reports in the press that some expatriates have been refused free access to treatment whereas others have not had such difficulties. How this will be checked and administered is not known, though it seems that the decision to accept or to refuse free treatment is left to the treating medical establishment. Furthermore, support from the British Medical Association is unlikely as the profession is split on the subject. They feel that it is not the job of a doctor to decide who is to be given treatment but realise that non-UK residents are taking advantage of free treatment while visiting the country.

While it is doubtful that those who choose to go back to the UK for non-urgent care such as a hernia operation will face a bill at the moment, it could only be a matter of time before free medical treatment becomes a thing of the past. With this in mind, expat health insurance that is valid overseas, as well as in the UK, either for temporary visits or permanent return is likely to become of more importance.

Source

http://www.global-health-insurance.com/cou...lth_tourism.php

[Prakanong]

A bit more info for those who have not read about this as yet.....

British expats who spend less than three months a year in the UK will no longer have automatic free access expat health clinics, hospitals and GPs, except for emergency treatment, such as for a heart attack. Those seeking medical treatment could be asked to prove their residency status by showing council tax bills, pay slips and records of National Insurance contributions. However, there are further guidelines stating that to be exempt from medical costs, British nationals living abroad need to have lived continuously in the UK for 10 years and either have not worked abroad for more than five years, or if they have, they need to have taken home leave to the UK once every two years.

Confused yet? So is the NHS it seems. To make matters worse, there have been reports in the press that some expatriates have been refused free access to treatment whereas others have not had such difficulties. How this will be checked and administered is not known, though it seems that the decision to accept or to refuse free treatment is left to the treating medical establishment. Furthermore, support from the British Medical Association is unlikely as the profession is split on the subject. They feel that it is not the job of a doctor to decide who is to be given treatment but realise that non-UK residents are taking advantage of free treatment while visiting the country.

While it is doubtful that those who choose to go back to the UK for non-urgent care such as a hernia operation will face a bill at the moment, it could only be a matter of time before free medical treatment becomes a thing of the past. With this in mind, expat health insurance that is valid overseas, as well as in the UK, either for temporary visits or permanent return is likely to become of more importance.

Source

http://www.global-health-insurance.com/cou...lth_tourism.php

As you say it will vary form area to area - a few years ago there was a BBC documentary where one guy arrived from Thailand and went to a hospital close to Heathrow - he was told there he was not entitled by the employee charged to work out who is due for treatment - some hospitals have these?

If you go to your local GP who you may still be registered with I doubt you will currently be turned away - lets see how this pans out in the future.

What about if and when ID cards come about though??

There is one guy I know in Bangkok who has not been back to the UK for 15-20 years who is pretty sick and can not afford treatment or medication. He was going to back and collapse at Heathrow. I told his pals to tell him to get on train up north then do it where he was likely to get no problem. In the end I heard he sold the ticket his pals paid for him to go home????????

[Khonwan]

Just been reading an article in the Uk Telegraph newspaper saying that anyone who lives in Europe for over 6 months lose all entitlement to NHS services.IE Doctors, Hospitals Social Services Etc. If you live out of Europe and in our case I mean Thailand it applies after 3 months. It does not matter if you have worked in the UK since you were 15 years old and have say paid 45 years contributions. You still lose out. What do you all think.

Lil

I've been here in Thailand as a British expat for 13 years and have always been aware of this law. I only found out one month ago that the law has never been enforced. I never had an issue with it for 13 years, so don't intend to now that the law is finally (perhaps) being enforced.

[Auntymarybrown]

Clearly every hospital has different levels of enforcement of the rules.

St Mary's in Central London has an overseas officer whose job is to check out ALL inpatients. If the person is outside the current rules then the standard NHS fixed daily charge for treatment will be imposed...Last time I asked it was around 500 pounds PER DAY !

When I asked what if the patient does not, cannot pay , no answer was forhtcoming other than that nobody in the UK is refused necessary treatment.

A final point : why does the UK not introduce the Swiss and German system. Simply put .............no heath insurance no visa to enter the UK !!

[johnsurin]

Just been reading an article in the Uk Telegraph newspaper saying that anyone who lives in Europe for over 6 months lose all entitlement to NHS services.IE Doctors, Hospitals Social Services Etc. If you live out of Europe and in our case I mean Thailand it applies after 3 months. It does not matter if you have worked in the UK since you were 15 years old and have say paid 45 years contributions. You still lose out. What do you all think.

Lil

This is just typical of this money grabbing government! After already introducing new taxes and introducing big brother laws and raising fines on already mundane things to gain more revenue on just about everything that the average person uses or does, (for example: local councils have been hiding spy cameras in peoples own rubbish bins to monitor how much refuse the average household throws out so they can raise council tax limits then change the pick-up collection from once a week to once a fortnight). The british people are the most spied upon nation in the world with an average of 14,000,000 (yes, fourteen million) spy cameras (that's 1 for every 4 people), that we now have anti-smoking police patrolling our streets. Yet, while people are affraid to walk the streets for fear of knife wielding, murderer's, muggers, paedophile's and the lowest form of scum that walk the planet theses cameras seem to do nothing, though you can rest assured that if someone is having a sly smoke they will be hauled before the courts to pay a fine for smoking in the open air!!! Now the government is trying to push through road pricing so that we will have to pay upto £1.34 a mile to drive our cars on the roads we pay road tax for, and council tax for up-keep of the roads. However if you are an illigal immigrant who travels to this country unchecked by immigration you can get free health care, even if you have never paid a penny into the system and they shouldn't even be here in the first place, yet they will refuse it to the honest english person who has paid in the system all there lives, the government is also trying to bring in laws so that if you get a smoking or drinking related disease, they can refuse treatment on the grounds that it is of your own doing, what next refuse treatment for old age diseases on the grounds that it's your own fault for not smoking and drinking, that you lived so long!!!!! On the bright side, if your a hopeless heroin junkie you can rest assured that you can pop down to your local health authority and get a nice little fix of methadone FREE!!!!! I could go on for ever here and must apologize for maybe going off topic a bit here but this is just the tip of the ice-berg. So if i was you i would stay where you are and forget about this sinking sh*t hole of a country and be happy where you are.

Sorry again for the ranting and ramblings of an idiot but i'm sure anyone who comes from the uk probably has the same feeling!!!

[Penkoprod]

AFAIK all you need to supply is an ADDRESS in the UK

This could be anyone, from a relative, friend etc (best not to mention you have just come from abroad though )

Nice rant johnsurin............just watch the BP though, mate

Penkoprod

[Auntymarybrown]

AFAIK all you need to supply is an ADDRESS in the UK

This could be anyone, from a relative, friend etc (best not to mention you have just come from abroad though )

Nice rant johnsurin............just watch the BP though, mate

Penkoprod

Supplying an address is usually NOT enough in London hospitals. The Overseas Officer wants to see proof of your right to free NHS treatment and if you do not provide that proof its 500 pounds a day I'afraid. This obviously applies mainly to non UK passport holders . UK people would be asked for details of their GP as a check and might even contact that GP.

Could be quite different at provincial hospitals of course.

[glenbat]

anyone who lives in Europe for over 6 months lose all entitlement to NHS services.

But if you were born there, well anywhere but Britain feel free to hop, skip or swim across and receive treatment for free. Tell them you've never contributed towards the NHS and you'll be top of the queue in no time

If you are an expat would you really want to come all the way back to contract MRSA?

[duratanium]

Lil

The british people are the most spied upon nation in the world with an average of 14,000,000 (yes, fourteen million) spy cameras (that's 1 for every 4 people), that we now have anti-smoking police patrolling our streets. Yet, while people are affraid to walk the streets for fear of knife wielding, murderer's, muggers, paedophile's and the lowest form of scum that walk the planet theses cameras seem to do nothing, though you can rest assured that if someone is having a sly smoke they will be hauled before the courts to pay a fine for smoking in the open air!!!

Well now, some people think things are bad enough in Thailand but here is another one for you....

After a successful pilot scheme in Middlesbrough, England, the government are now installing more loudspeakers to the CCTV cameras so that the operators can tell people they are misbehaving!!!

If you drop litter, are drunk, behaving in an anti-social manner etc. etc., a voice comes down from on high and tells you to pick up the litter, behave yourself, stop fighting etc. If you do not comply with the voice from the loudspeaker system they will follow you and you will be arrested / cautioned for your inappropriate behaviour.

Next time you complain about Thailand, think how bad things are getting in so called 'civilised' countries where soon you will not be able to even fart in public without some odour meter detecting you and having you arrested for it, or being seen picking your nose in public and same same