British Nhs Question

[Macx]

Hi All,

I'm asking the question for my British neighbor:

"Does NHS cover in the UK cease or cease in part after so many years abroad?"

The question is mildly urgent as he is coming up on 5 yrs abroad and feels that he must head back to the UK for the above issue, but he is somewhat ill at the moment and may not be able to travel.

Thanks so much for your help.

Cheers

[colinscarr]

Unless he has continued to make voluntary UK National Insurance contributions while living in Thailand, his NHS entitlement is dead at the moment. If he returns to the UK, it will take him some time to re establish his entitlement. So, if he was hoping to step off the plane and get instant NHS care for free, sorry, not possible. (Unless of course he made those voluntary contributions...)

[Maizefarmer]

Yer, but I can tell you go to any NHS doc or hospital and just say nothing and they won't know any different - there is nothing on the system that id's you as having lost that status - and nor will your doc say anything, unless you tell him/her or make an issue of it.

[PattayaParent]

Voluntary NI contributions do not give you an entitlement to NHS service, they are for pension entitlement.

[mrtoad]

Yer, but I can tell you go to any NHS doc or hospital and just say nothing and they won't know any different - there is nothing on the system that id's you as having lost that status - and nor will your doc say anything, unless you tell him/her or make an issue of it.

Correct. Whilst, they may check it is unlikely and no doctor will refuse treatment a point of entry. If the person is still registered with their local GP it will make it somewhat easier -if they are not, that is where they are more likely to have a problem.

[QED]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

[jim1563]

well my thai can get it and shes payed f*uck all ni contributions and dont forget all the polish

[StateSix]

You will still receive emergency treatment, but are not eligible for elective treatment. I have read cases where the hospitals have requested proof that you are eligible, but if you are referred from a GP that you have been registered with for a long time then I would not imagine there would be a problem.

[mrtoad]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

I think that is about spot on.

[Somtamnication]

I can tell you about me. I hope it helps those who need to know.

I was gone for 40 years. 40. Not 4. Actually 43 years. I am 45. Registered with the local gp near the room I was renting. After a few days of registering at the local gp, I got an NHS number, saw a doctor a week later and got diabetic treatment.

Other than health questions, no other questions asked, like why no contributions, why left the UK, etc etc. NW London area.

[PattayaParent]

^ Similar situation to my missus.

On a visit to England she was ill so went to my local GP whi has known my family since I ws born. He treated her knowing she was a forign national on a holiday and a few weeks later a NHS card was received in the post

[mommysboy]

Unless he has continued to make voluntary UK National Insurance contributions while living in Thailand, his NHS entitlement is dead at the moment. If he returns to the UK, it will take him some time to re establish his entitlement. So, if he was hoping to step off the plane and get instant NHS care for free, sorry, not possible. (Unless of course he made those voluntary contributions...)

I went back fairly recently after 5 years out here, and went to the doctors for a routine medical. Received 1 precription, no questions asked.

If your friend got repatriated by air ambulance, I suppose they'd ask questions, but if he walks in off the street, who are they to know where he has been living?

My advice go back while he can and keep his mouth shut about where he's been. Get well soon.

[WaiWai]

A fellow Aussie told me he must now pay significantly higher premiums on Medicare, as he has been absent from Oz for some time.

I tried to find more info but failed. Anyone know more?

[brianw]

macx instead of your friend paying £xxxx air fares he should put it towards treatment in thailand they have good hospitals and doctors sometimes better than ours in the uk

as for ( sommtanmication) reply 45years old been out of the uk for 43 years getting free NHS thats the problem with the U K just another BLOODY scrounger

[Penkoprod]

Heres a link to the actual act itself

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19890306_en_1.htm

Couple that with this:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual/eligibility_residency/ntc0350070.htm

And this:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5683677.ece

And make of it what you will.

Seems to me that the cell door is about to slam shut on those "naughty enough to turn their backs on the fatherland" and retake control of their lives once more.

Penkoprod

[Macx]

Thanks for your replies. Please keep them coming.

I won't see him for a few more days. I'll just print out all your replies and give them to him so he can make up his own mind.

As for the "supposed" time limit abroad, is that 5 years?

Thanks again.

ps. I told him there were many helpful Brits on this board and that he would not be disappointed

[scotsman]

The law as it stand now is that if you are out of the country for more than 3 months your entitlement to the NHS is only for Emergency cover but if you take up residency again you can still get full NHS cover. I don't think many hospitals will check if your resident or not and if you are referred by a GP they will not check. You wounder what you do get as a British Subject who pays income tax anymore when even your pension is frozen the day you receive it if you choose to Retire to this country.. No access to the NHS you are helping to fund if you still pay tax so I would lie and cheat to get the Treatment because you are paying for it same as every other person who pays uk income Tax in or out of the uk.

Regards

Scotsman

[Eff1n2ret]

The law as it stand now is that if you are out of the country for more than 3 months your entitlement to the NHS is only for Emergency cover but if you take up residency again you can still get full NHS cover. I don't think many hospitals will check if your resident or not and if you are referred by a GP they will not check. You wounder what you do get as a British Subject who pays income tax anymore when even your pension is frozen the day you receive it if you choose to Retire to this country.. No access to the NHS you are helping to fund if you still pay tax so I would lie and cheat to get the Treatment because you are paying for it same as every other person who pays uk income Tax in or out of the uk.

Regards

Scotsman

I agree with very word of that. As a recently-qualified OAP flying to LOS next week, I find I'm still to pay UK tax on any pension income, same on rental income, so what's left? A few hundred quid a year in bank interest. So although I started to fill out the HMRC form to declare myself non-resident, in the end I don't see the point. The DWP requires you to tell them if you're out of the UK for more than 3 months, so I've written them a letter to say I will be abroad until 1st June next year, which is true as I've got a return flight for that date. I have a mail-forwarding address in the UK. Knowing the Civil Service, they will send me a form to fill in, which I won't bother to do, as I've already complied with the requirement to inform them. If they freeze my state pension, so be it, but as far as the NHS is concerned, as long as I continue to pay UK tax I'm entitled to treatment and I will bend the facts to achieve that.

[yeesipha]

Theres one thing i am learning in this present life,if you do everything by the book,you aint going to get nowhere fast ,you have to cook the books

somewere along the lines ,and why not the country was sailed down the river long time ago .

[smokie36]

macx instead of your friend paying £xxxx air fares he should put it towards treatment in thailand they have good hospitals and doctors sometimes better than ours in the uk

Its what I would do if the cost wasn't prohibitive. And I spend 6 months of each year working ifor the NHS!!

If you can turn up at a GP surgery and give them a UK address and postcode you are unlikely to have any problem at all. Just say you haven't been to the doc for a few years...can't remember last GP's name etc...

Current waiting times from seeing GP to having treatment is 18 weeks max. (Thats the target anyway)

Hope this helps.

[kjhbigv]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

Here, here....absolute f..ing joke! Paid god knows how much in income tax and god knows what else for 20+ years and now entitled to 'diddly squat'! The UK is a joke!

[smokie36]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

Here, here....absolute f..ing joke! Paid god knows how much in income tax and god knows what else for 20+ years and now entitled to 'diddly squat'! The UK is a joke!

I've yet to see a story in the Daily Mail of such an expat being refused life saving treatment.

[whichschool]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

Here, here....absolute f..ing joke! Paid god knows how much in income tax and god knows what else for 20+ years and now entitled to 'diddly squat'! The UK is a joke!

So you paid tax until age 36+ and now expect the people who stayed in England to keep funding the NHS for another 30 years for you when your Paradise tells you to <deleted> off when you ask for free healthcare in old age.

Pay for you own private healthcare and dont rely on others.

PS You had free usage of the NHS for 36+ years, i doubt youve covered paying for your childhood years when you didnt work.

[whichschool]

macx instead of your friend paying £xxxx air fares he should put it towards treatment in thailand they have good hospitals and doctors sometimes better than ours in the uk

as for ( sommtanmication) reply 45years old been out of the uk for 43 years getting free NHS thats the problem with the U K just another BLOODY scrounger

Here Here, you can guarantee these scroungers whine about the UK at any given moment but come back with their begging bowl when they cant look after themselves, looking to be cared for by the kind hand of capitalism.

[acab]

So after paying ludicrous amounts to the government for years, I am now demoted to a lower status than an asylum seeker??

Just reminds me why I left the sh1thole of a country.

Here, here....absolute f..ing joke! Paid god knows how much in income tax and god knows what else for 20+ years and now entitled to 'diddly squat'! The UK is a joke!

So you paid tax until age 36+ and now expect the people who stayed in England to keep funding the NHS for another 30 years for you when your Paradise tells you to <deleted> off when you ask for free healthcare in old age.

Pay for you own private healthcare and dont rely on others.

PS You had free usage of the NHS for 36+ years, i doubt youve covered paying for your childhood years when you didnt work.

Paying tax till 36years counts a god dam_n lot!! The real story here though is about those people abroad that have contributed thier whole lives to the system, what about them? It makes me wonder why the hel_l im paying in at all. According to form im not even gauranteed a pension, theys keep changing the bloody gow post.

Edited October 14, 2009 by acab

[smokie36]

As the NHS improves and the average life span increases so does the pensionable age.

Escape before its too late!

[whichschool]

Paying tax till 36years counts a god dam_n lot!! The real story here though is about those people abroad that have contributed thier whole lives to the system, what about them? It makes me wonder why the hel_l im paying in at all. According to form im not even gauranteed a pension, theys keep changing the bloody gow post.

No no no you are guaranteed a pension and at the higher rate if youve contributed what youve said is 100% wrong.

Immigrants, people whove paid tax for 20 years, asylum seekers, and people who retired and moved abroad are all totally exclusive cases.

Though IMHO the brain dead pensioners who voted either Labour, Tory or the Libs and retired abroad deserve the lack of support from the British govt. that is stated in law ... non voters, and people who voted for parties who are interested in looking after indigenous folk deserve to be taken care of in old age.

[Rinrada]

Always instant and very good treatment in the NHS GUM clinics and ....no questions asked.

St Anns in Tottenham recco...

[sumrit]

We've just moved to the UK four years after I moved to Thailand, where I met, married and lived with my Thai wife and her daughter. During those four years I've still been employed by a

UK company and paid UK Taxes and NI contributions every month. Because I've been away for more than three months, if the law was enforced, I wouldn't get NHS care for the first six

months I was back in the UK regardless of the contributions I've been making, but because of those same contributions, both my wife and stepdaughter ARE entitled to NHS care from the

moment they arrived in the UK, even though they've NEVER lived here.

[happylarry]

If you have been away from the UK for a while and then return, you are entitled to immediate NHS treatment, providing you give an undertaking that you are going to stay in the UK for the foreseeable future.

You cant just fly in , be treated and then fly out again.

This seems quite sensible to me, after all they do treat all emergency cases regardless and you cant say that for most other countries, can you?

HL