When one leaves the UK to become resident abroad, one loses the right to free healthcare in the UK.

Now I could be very wrong here, but I believe that you don't lose the right to free healthcare in the UK. My opinion is personal; I was recently taken ill in Nottingham with cellulitis, and was seen at the Walk In Centre (excellent place with kind and very competent professional staff), the Emergency Doctor at another location that they sent me to ...... by patient transport, and finally spent 11 days as an inpatient at Nottingham City Hospital. No one asked for money, no one looked at my passport or EHIC or French Residents' Card. They just treated me as though I was a normal UK citizen (which I am - BRITISH PASSPORT!!), even though my admitting address was a local hotel and my home address in France was written on my permanent notes. They even discharged me with the necessary tablets for a further week's treatment.

WELL DONE NOTTINGHAM CITY HOSPITAL and in particular the DOCTORS AND STAFF of Patience 2 ward.

Even if you reside elsewhere, and 183 days is the maximum stay in the UK for tax purposes and your 'domicile', you can and will still be treated in the UK if you need it .... and I've previously had to go to a GP in my in-laws area when I ran out of medication due to an extended visit .... again with no problems.

Also EC countries have reciprocal health arrangements with each other .......... which includes Spain and the UK.

I think maybe the paper printed what you wrote, but maybe their facts were wrong.

However, Spain IS going to impose changes on some Britons who come to settle there - you might like to look up the Daily Telegraph archive where they laid out some of the conditions.

Alsa

A couple of years ago a health service professional told me that free healthcare is only available to UK residents, expats are not entitled to the service. The exceptions being emergency treatment in hospitals and visits to Walk In Centres.
The NHS is aware that expats are illegally receiving free treatment and prescriptions from some local GP's and some hospitals are not checking eligibility. But under EU ruling all EU citizens are entitled to basic emergency treatment in any of the member states.
It's the luck of the draw really, I have been treated for free at my parent's local GP in Nottingham and they weren't interested in my EHIC but once on a visit to the south I was told at a GP's surgery that I had to go to the local hospital for treatment.

Perhaps this subject may be better as a separate topic, but information regarding overseas visitors (including British expats who have lived outside the UK for more than 3 months) obtaining healthcare during a visit to the UK can be found on THIS page.

David

This info is indeed true, CV is just coming into line with most of the other areas of spain. It is also the same here in Lanzarote, which I have found out to my cost

I had paid into the ss system for 9 years, have my ss card etc. But have now been without work for some time, and was taken out of the system after the 90 days grace. Because I am a spanish resident I am not eligible for treatment in UK, either. They have recently introduced the EHIC card here for residents holidaying in UK, so that they can get emergency treatment if necessary. Unfortunately I cannot have one of those either, as I don't have a job!!!!!!! So I am stuck really. I do have private medical insurance, but have to pay upfront and claim it back - not possible for me, if I need an op. No-one is likely to give me a contract job in the economic climate here, and to pay ss I would have to set up some kind of company!!!!! So I best not be seriously ill until I reach retirement age

None of the above, of course, is relevant unless you are a spanish resident.

Now I'm going to play devil's advocate, and probably get my unmentionable bits (hands, fingers and toes) burned in the process ..............

If you are hold a British passport, then you are a British citizen ......... it used to say so at the front in the squiggly writing. You are therefore entitled to NHS treatment like any other British citizen.

But if you live abroad ie you are domiciled in Spain or France or another EC country (sorry Sue, I don't think that the Canary Islands count - after all they have different duty-free and taxation laws to the rest of the mainstream EC countries), you lose neither your British nationality nor your citizenship. When I say 'domiciled' I mean that you are taxed in that country and you pay your taxes to that country in that country's currency. You hold a permit or some legal document to say that you are registered as living in that country - a permit of residency.

I think you can still get treatment in the UK - obviously if you live elsewhere it would be classed as an emergency, regardless of whether it was for a sudden infection, falling ill and needing treatment, losing a filling, breaking a leg etc. What would not be covered would be what I suppose could be considered 'health tourism' ie travelling to the UK for a pre-agreed procedure such as for a termination, cosmetic surgery or a privately-arranged organ transplant.

I didn't think - and still don't - that becoming a RESIDENT of another country meant giving up your rights and definition as a British citizen. Right, I'll get my coat ................

You are right Alsa, in that you are always a UK citizen! Even if I become a spanish citizen, the UK refuse to believe I wouldn't want to be UK citizen However, being a UK citizen really does not allow me to use the NHS, as I don't pay National Insurance, and have no ties to Britain apart from being British by birth!!! Because I don't pay social security here in Lanzarote I am not entitled to free treatment here either. Believe me, I have tried, as I was poorly last year, and was even sat in front of a doctor here, who threw my notes across the table and said she couldn't treat me!!

Maybe this is the case purely because I live in the Canaries, but I do believe it is the same across on the mainland too

I don't think that it is the same across the whole of the mainland, look at Valencia, they are just introducing the law now. I am pretty sure though that it will become the norm though. The problem seems to be that the regional health authority in Spain sends the bill to the UK and the UK refuses to pay. I am sure that this is not too much of a problem in Extremadura or Asturias where there are not too many 50-something Brits, but in Andalucia, Baleareas, CV and Canarias, it can be quite a burden. I beleive that in Comunidad Valenciana there are about 1600 Brits affected. Cuildren and OAPs are covered by Spanish healthcare so do not have a problem, pre-retireds do and so will job-seekers who are yet to pay into the Spanish system.
At least the privare sector isn't too expensive (or at least wasn't when I was paying in)

PS: Well done Spain .... and well done Luis Aragones for sticking to his guns and not picking Raul. It was good to see the King and Queen celebrating the goal and the win. Ahem... of course I have told my Spanish friends and family that it's the World Cup that counts though.

If you are hold a British passport, then you are a British citizen ......... it used to say so at the front in the squiggly writing. You are therefore entitled to NHS treatment like any other British citizen

I'm afraid not, regardless of whether or not you hold a British Passport, if you no longer reside in the Uk, then you may have to pay:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/index.htm

I really cannot see the problem.
If you are not working and paying into the Spanish state system, then why should you expect to receive free medical care.?
If you no longer live in the UK and pay into the British system, then why should you expect me (as a taxpayer) still stuck in this poo hole, to continue funding your healthcare, whilst you live in Spain.?

Just because you lived in the UK and paid into the system, it doesn't mean that those contributions that you made into the British system were/are enough to cover you for medical treatment for the rest of your life , or think that because you are the holder of a little red book, that it gives you the right to demand/expect anything for nothing.
If whilst you lived in the UK, you were unfortunate to be ill and required hospital treatment/operations etc, then those contributions helped to pay for your treatment whilst you were here...in other words, you've had your moneys worth back already.

The NHS is a kind of insurance policy, you pay into it, just in case you need it, some people can pay into the system and never have a days illness in their life, but they have the security of knowing that should they need it, they are fully paid members and are therefore entitled to it,"¦but like all insurance policies, the moment you stop paying the premiums, the insurance policy becomes void.

When we were thinking about moving to Spain before we were officially OAP's, one of the first things on our list was inquiring about a private health care policy and budgeting for the annual cover because we knew that we would become residents and wouldn't be working in Spain and paying into their system, therefore we wouldn't be eligible for treatment from the Spanish system and any further treatment from the NHS.

Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiii

OK perhaps I'm the oddity - because I still pay Class 3 voluntary contributions every month, perhaps that keeps me entitled. But NOBODY has ever asked me to pay when I have needed to use NHS services on visits to the UK.

That'll be why then Alsa

Sanji, I completely agree with you!!! And if UK adopted the same policy as spain, perhaps the scroungers would get off their backsides and get back to work!!!!!! Lanzarote was always a bit lax about throwing people off the system, up till a year ago, which is when I found out about it all.

I have had private medical insurance since moving to Spain, it was a condition of residence back in the early 1990's

Madsue

Are you saying that people out of work in the UK should not receive free health care?
The basic concept of the NHS is free health care from cradle to grave, a system that on it's inception was the envy of the world and to a small extent still is. To change to a system similar to some other countries would mean a radical overall of the NHS which would be political suicide for any party and probably receive opposition from a large percent of the UK population.
As a citizen of the EU I know I can receive emergency treatment at a hospital or walk in centre if needed when I am in the UK and have done so on one occasion in the past but it is up to the local health authority or hospital to decide whether treatment should be paid for or not and due to not knowing, being too busy or just plain laziness this is not being put into practice, resulting in the NHS losing millions of pounds. This has encouraged health tourism which is often being perpetuated by expats who although living abroad feel they still have the right to be treated by the NHS for free.
On an extended visit to the UK a few years ago I went to the local GP's office(non emergency) and was prepared to pay and even though the staff there knew I lived abroad, were at a loss what to do, so I was treated for free.

Judith, nope, not really! I too think the concept of free health care from cradle to grave is a wonderful one. And in the past I have received emergency treatment on visits to UK free of charge, although I have always been prepared to pay, as I do believe I should be paying into a system to receive treatment. If I was receiving the paro here, or was destitute (and could prove it), I would be eligible for free treatment. What does tend to bug me is stories I hear/read of health "tourists", some not even from EU countries who can get free treatment in UK. But that's a bit

On a personal level, I am sorry the loophole has been closed both in CV, and here in Lanzarote, but I do believe it is the correct move!!!!! And (to get back on topic!!) yep, the info is correct!!!!!

Hello
I live in CV, and would first say that the change in the rules doesn´t affect me directly because my husband is an OAP and, as his spouse, I too get free healthcare here. I do understand why the changes have been made, and I agree with (almost!) all the points made already.
But I do think its unfair that, whilst, on the one hand, as one who retired early from the public sector, my pension is taxed in UK,
on the other hand if I returned to UK I wouldn´t be eligible for healthcare.
Obviously I would very much rather be taxed in Spain, because Spain is now my home and is looking after me healthwise - but I have no choice in the matter.
Regards
Sue

yes as already said in previous posts this information is correct. it is going to hit a lot of the young ones hard as most employers want them to work for a pittance but wont give them a contract so they cannt pay into the system but they need money so they will continue to work for those employers. regarding the uk now when you go to the hospital there are posters stating that if you dont reside in the uk you may have to pay for treatment you are also sent a leaflet with your appointment letter

Form E106 may be a help.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/international/sa29/medical_06.asp