for Expats in the EU who voted remain, to be relly upset and angry at neighbours and 'friends' who have voted to leave?

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Urmstongran !

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

As I said Mamie we have always taken out travel insurance as the EHIC would not have covered repatriation etc
It’s a question of choices isn’t it?
If you live a short drive from another mainland European country you presumably take your chance, for longer distances eg holidays you factor it into the total cost.
Horses for courses.
I think Brexit will have rather farther-reaching effects than travel insurance.

Thanks for the clarification Jura, I didn't know that about Switzerland and travel insurance. What a pain.
Urmstongran I think it is the pound that has tanked against the Swiss franc.
I guess MawB that if the EHIC scheme does go then we will know how much of a big deal it is from people who live in the UK and holiday in Europe.
We only go to the UK and Spain to see our children and their families, but I guess if you live on a border then it is a big deal if you are not insured.

The voice of intelligent reason (again) Maw. A fair point you make.

My apologies jura and mamie I didn’t realise anything really about Switzerland and that they had their own currency. Sorry to be dim. I’ve never visited nor has anyone in my family or friends group hence it was not on my radar.

Thank you for pointing it out.

Now then, it beggars the question from me - why has the Swiss currency tanked so badly? I thought the Swiss had a reputation for fiscal probity?

Actually this might derail the thread. Sorry. I shall Google it myself (and try to educate myself - I am a bear of little brain at times).

As it is at the moment, we will have pay full insurance, even though we have S1 and NHS cover- just to be able to travel to EU- including France less than a mile away- or become totally land-locked - in a beautiful country, yes - but

If France is less than a mile away, surely you could live dangerously, take that risk and hazard a trip to the supermarché?
I appreciate that you had your reasons for moving to Switzerland, which from your description of your lifestyle has clear attractions , but when you consider there are those (including many on GN) who, living without benefit of private or public sector pensions may not even be able to travel abroad at all, whether for economic or health reasons, is holiday insurance really a major issue in the consequences of Brexit?

Urmstongran- I thought it was clear that we are not in the Euro zone- the values given are for the Swiss Franc, not the Euro!

Mamie- one of our issues, and perhaps the biggest one, is that we do not know of a single person in the same situation. Plenty of Brits retired in Switzerland- but all the ones we know are here because they worked here for many years, are in the health insurance system and get excellent Swiss pensions (as well as many who get other pensions from the UK and other countries they lived in!) - we are on UK pensions alone, and arrived after reirement (why oh why, some will say- to look after my very elderly parents, and because all our careful research and planning showed that it would work well for us). There are probably a handful of us - but I don't know of any.

Yes, we have EHIC from Newcastle- and it will be valid until the end of the transition period, Dec 2020. After that ...

And I am sorry, but you do not seem to understand. The insurance product 'holiday insurance' does NOT exist in Switzerland. Well it does, covers for loss of luggage, cancellation, etc, and any cost over and above the 'double' value explained above. If a Swiss person has treatment abroad, the insurance will pay up to double the estimated cost of same treatment in Switzerland. Holiday insurance would cover that excess. But as everyone has compulsory insurance, that covers them in EU and anywhere in the world- Holiday Insurance as we know it in the UK just does not exist. It is not relevant here.
I am probably not expressing myself well- as no-one seems to understand what I am saying.

Our rights in Switzerland used to give us the same, but not nowhere we have been told that it will no longer. We have S1 for Switzerland, NHS for UK - and then zilch, nothing, for the EU.

Urmstongran I think Jura is talking about the Swiss franc.
We bought our house at 1.56€. The figure we use for calculation is the 1.24 just before the vote. At the beginning of 2016 it was 1.30+. Yes it has crept up a bit as uncertainty about no deal has passed, but we have yet to see the true financial impact of Brexit on the economy.

Jura as you know, currently people on S1 get their EHIC from Newcastle. As I said before, if it goes, I am not sure that Third Country Nationals will continue to be eligible for CEAM, but we just don't know until the negotiations are done.
Do your rights as a Swiss national not give you access into the scheme as an EEA member?
Is the crazy cost of travel insurance just a Swiss thing?

Jura We have been here 10 years, but bought the house in 2008. The Pound was 2.50 - recently it dropped to 1.16 - and now back around 1.28

We bought our little apartment in Spain in 2004 and at its very highest (then) using a commercial rate too to buy property - a pound sterling ‘only’ fetched 1.47 euro. The tourist rate was lower obviously at 1.38 euro.

I do not see where you get your stratospherically high figure of 2.50??

Also Mamie surely you agree that lately the exchange rate is creeping back up to pre Brexit levels? Many financial experts at the time considered 1.32 euro to the pound showed that sterling was over-valued. This bottoming out was predicted and away from those heady days, is considered more realistic!

Again, Mamie- looking to private insurance that does NOT exist - is pie in the sky. As it is at the moment, we will have pay full insurance, even though we have S1 and NHS cover- just to be able to travel to EU- including France less than a mile away- or become totally land-locked - in a beautiful country, yes - but ...

Ah I did realise it was lost over a 3.5 year period Mamie but it does still illustrate the differences between our incomes!!
?

Mamie, as said in my post, you can get CEAM cover for EU/EEA travel in you are in the French system- but NOT if you are on S1. I do not know if there are Insurance products in France that could cover for this- in Switzerland there isn't as people are automatically covered- but NOT on S1.

Maw - price of property in our part of Swiitzerland is not high compared to many parts of UK. We do not live in Geneva or Zurich or on one of the Rivieras, but in a rural part. Prices are low, houses don't shift fast. But why should we hve the stress, after a big C scare, and OH mid 70s - to upsticks to France, or back to UK? If we drive to UK, how is our credit card going to cover us?

This thread was not about me/us - but it has veered in this direction as I was asked.

We have been here 10 years, but bought the house in 2008. The Pound was 2.50 - recently it dropped to 1.16 - and now back around 1.28. 50% of income loss is painful- and we have had to shelve renovations and many other plans. Not asking you to have any empathy- just saying...

Gorgeous day- so off swimming. Better for my health, mind and heart.

Obviously if the EHIC goes it affects everyone in the UK as well as UK migrants in Europe. Everyone will be looking at private insurance.

*Urmstongran" that is a total for three and a half years not per year.
Yes we did lose a lot in 2008/9 but it was a fairly brief period. We have all the data going back to our arrival here and the decline since the 2016 vote is very clear.

As for the absence of travel insurance, that may well have to be one of the disadvantages you have to take into account when you consider your future now that you are no longer responsible for elderly relatives and with family in the U.K.

I think Maw you’ve hit the nail firmly on the head, right there.

It’s about choices.

However if the EHIC goes, then as far as I can see it might affect all of us as Third Country Nationals whether we are under the S1 or in PUMA.
But as we don't know until the negotiations are done, I am not going to worry about that for a year.

Bluddy hell I am afraid I can't regard the loss of over 20,000 euros from our income (monitored on our financial spreadsheets) since the 2016 vote as a normal fluctuation

That’s some serious income if that’s your ‘loss’ due to market fluctuation. I wish I had your problem! The amount you’ve lost is huge.

Remember May 2009 though? You must have lost a great amount there then as I can recall parity between sterling and the euro! Nowt to do with Brexit either. It wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye. Our hotel in the Canaries offered 99 CENTS for a pound sterling!! They kindly rounded it up to 1 euro. Admittedly the bank rate or an exchange server would have got us 1.03 euro to the pounds ha!

It was always in the Withdrawal Agreement Jura but for a time no deal looked more likely. Not sure what you mean about "the top- up insurance to replace EHIC". I can only speak for France, but our top-up insurance is not about travel. The French system only pays 70% (apart from serious illnesses) and everyone, French included (apart from those who choose not to) pays into a supplementary insurance or mutuelle to pay for the rest. The companies cannot discriminate for pre-existing conditions. It costs us about 250€ a month.
I think the EHIC system is not part of the WA and is part of the next phase of negotiations, so at this stage nobody knows. However, I see no reason why agreement should not be reached for it to continue. Like the S1 form, it is in nobody's interest to stop it.
For travel insurance we have used a Europe based scheme and our credit card insurance.

I was only going on your own words Jura which were (to me) quite clear this is NOT about me so, sorry if I misunderstood that.
As for the absence of travel insurance, that may well have to be one of the disadvantages you have to take into account when you consider your future now that you are no longer responsible for elderly relatives and with family in the U.K.
Given the price of property in Switzerland, I suppose you might also choose to relocate back here or even to France which mamie describes as being a rather better “deal” for expats.

For info to Mamie- those on S1 will not be able to get a CEAM card, that will cover for emergency treatment in EU/EEA - just as EHIC. Same for us in Switzerland. Unless you have information to the contrary?

Maw, yes it does affect us- but in a different way altogether, and as we are not living in an expat community here, there are no tensions on this subject. The only expats (immigrants) around all feel exactly as we do. They are not affected in the same way, as they have worked here for a long time and are part of the system - getting fat Swiss pensions anc fully covered by their insurance- not on S1s.

Coolio, we live on the French border, in a very cheap part of Switzerland, and do most of our shopping in France- it helps a bit, for sure.

Thanks Mamie - this is fabulous news if S1 will now be upheld- this is not what I had previously been told in the past.
It does seem that those on S1 will not be able to join the top up system that covers them in the EU to replace EHIC.

Maw and others- yes, Holiday insurance is available in the UK - this is very clear. We used to have a yearly cover at reasonable price- although I imagine it would be more expensive 10 years on and now with pre-exisiting conditions.

We cannot buy UK holiday insurance, as we are no longer residents- and that is the crux. The insurance 'product' just does NOT exist in Switzerland, as residents here, Swiss or otherwise, who are not covered by S1, are automatically covered by their compulsory Swiss health/accident insurance, for up to double the cost an intervention would cost here. Top up insurance exists- to cover cancelllation, repatriation, and any excess on top. So the only choice we will probably have, to replace loss of cover in EU - is to purchase full Swiss health/accident insurance (despite being covered in Switzerland by S1 and in UK by NHS) - and the cost for this is, I can asssure you, about £500 each x 2 per month. Fact. Our Insurance broker is trying to find a solution- but as we are possibly a handful in the same position- no insurance is going to 'invent' a new product to cover us.

And this, on top of the massive loss of income due to falling Sterling value since we came here.

So yes, you are right dear poster above, I am a 'little wound up'.

Sorry Jura but you are wrong. The Withdrawal Agreement is not just about France, it is about all UK citizens in Europe. The S1 is part of that agreement. It has been out for some time, but until the last election it was, of course, unclear whether it would become law. There may well be people who don't know this, but the information is on the BiE / RIFT sites and they are obviously on Facebook and Twitter.
Anyone on an S1 will, of course, still be covered by the NHS when in the UK. The UK remains their competent state.
The things that you are worrying about were part of a No Deal scenario. For Citizens Rights, that worry, at least, is gone.
As for the state of the pound Urmstongran I am afraid I can't regard the loss of over 20,000 euros from our income (monitored on our financial spreadsheets) since the 2016 vote as a normal fluctuation. The consistent, overall decline of the pound should be clear to anyone with an eye on the economics of the situation. Given the lack of a coherent trading plan I can't see it getting better any time soon.