Losing NHS coverage under Brexit

It does depend what you mean by 'reciprocal'. UK residents do not get the same, always free, care, we get whatever the people of the country we are in get which usually means some sort of payment and/or insurance.

Previously there have been discussions on GN about charging non-UK citizens for NHS care and it seems it is not a system we are happy to adopt because it is difficult to operate and expensive. Don't know why other countries can do it and we can't.

Glad you responded Mamie. I saw one of the Govt notices earlier this week and it gave me the impression that if you were already covered by the French system that in effect would continue. Puma contributions if you need to pay them are something like 8%.
If you are a U.K. pensioner you get your EHIC card from the U.K. still which shows you are entitled to NHS care if you are in the U.K. as you have contributed for 40 years in my case.
Another thing about French healthcare is that if you have a serious or ongoing health problem such as cancer or heart problems your health costs are entirely covered by the state.

If you buy your travel insurance in France it is much cheaper than U.K. the insurance companies are not allowed to ask about any medical conditions and for some things your house insurance will as a last resort cover you for certain things - I still have a problem getting my head around that one so we don’t rely on it! The last time we took out insurance we had it for 7 wheeks - 2 in U.K. and 5 in USA and it cost €110 each. This covered everything except our flights as we had bought them with a Credit card so they were covered. Of course if you take a flight which starts in the EU at the moment you have great protection from EU regulations.
No one really knows yet how anyone will be affected on B day as a lot will depend how the U.K. treats the EU citizens living in Britain - which from what I have seen so far is absolutely dreadful and makes me ashamed to say I am English.

EU rules are that reciprocal care means that the people qualifying for it get the care at the cheapest rate a national would receive it. Some very poor people would get it free via a means test but that would not cover another country’s National as one of the tests is that the migrant is self sufficient and not reliant a burden on the host state

Day6- again you are confusing several things here. People who travel as tourist, those who come from outside the EU/EEA and those who are RESIDENT in EU/EEA- and became so, having carefully researched that they would be able to access reciprocal health care (here in Switzerland we have to pay the first 300 Swiss Francs each year, then 10 % up to 700 CHF- so about 1000 per year. There is no way of covering this with top up insurance.

Your comment 'Those people living in Europe will have to consider their options.' is quite correct- and this is what is causing so much stress, fears and worries. As per the article quoted. I imagine those already in the system in France will be OK, at least for a while. But it may well become much more difficult, or even impossible - if we drop out without a deal.

But since you said that the NHS is not a bottomless pit (and I agree there) - do you think that 1000s upon 1000s of British retirees in the EU/EEA having to return because of loss of healthcare, will make this better - or indeed much worse.

Notwithstanding that they would return having lost more or less everything - and would be in need of housing and social support?

If you hold a British passport and are in receipt of the British state pension you are entitled to NHS care on the same basis as anyone in the UK. This would cover retirees in Spain, France etc.

Maime. I am told the French system is good but a foreigner moving there with a pre-existing condition would have to pay full cost instead of NHS.

Or have I missed something .

Framilode, can you imagine someone with cancer having to return to UK from Spain for each treatment?

... and if returning for full treatment, where would they live?

No they wouldn't Davidhs. If you settle in France (there is an income threshold for non EU), then you register for the tax system, confirm your arrival with your local Mairie and visit the relevant organisation for health cover. You should then be able to register for PUMA health cover - as this is France you need a multitude of documents, birth and marriage certificates, proof of income, electricity bill, proof of home ownership / rental to name but a few. You will not be discriminated against for existing conditions and the top-up insurance (costs us about 230€ a month) cannot discriminate either.
Private insurance is pretty impossible with pre-existing conditions.
What I would say is that you need a reasonable level of income and some French. I think the days of people arriving to "live the dream" on fresh air and a vegetable plot have gone. Most of them have gone too.

Does anyone know what the situation is in Spain? All I can find is that entering the Spanish system as an over 65 costs c720€ p.a. and you pay 100% of prescription charges.
Does anybody know the facts?

Thanks for that information Mamie. Very interesting. You obviously know the French system very well.

And yes, the countryside, a few acres, chickens, vegetables and a bistro/café/brasserie and a patisserie in the village just up the road (that we could cycle to) was our French dream Mamie. We'd return with our freshly baked baguettes/batons and drink wine and eat cheese and fruit all afternoon....

Some friends, returning after twelve years living in the Dordogne put us straight. Life wasn't like 'Escape to the Continent' after all!

Those TV programmes have a lot to answer for!

We had many very happy years in France, but it was hard work, I still miss it.
As Mamie says, one of you needs to have a grasp of french to survive.
Having said that I knew of many who were living 'below the radar', which annoyed me. I don't think that will be possible now, good thing.

Having lived in France for almost 15 years, (until last year), I concur entirely with Mamie.

Not everyone moved for a few acres, chickens and vegetables.
Some of us moved to help elderly parents in their hour of need- after a lifetime of working for the UK for a lifetime- and therefore have no right to a pension in their country of birth...

Did you wath Angela Rippon and the massive and really dangerous problem with antibiotic resistance? All the research, as well as other medical research- is currently done internationally, and mostly with EU. These are not issues we will be able to solve in isolation. The firm I joined in 1970 won a Queen's award for inventing synthetic forms of antibiotics - which were sadly misused and abused.

Medical and drug research will be truly thwarted by leaving the EU.

Imagine being diagnosed with a life threatening illness- and the first day of your (very expensive) treatment, is on the day you lose reciprocal health care? How much more stress and distress would that cause? What is happening now to my best friend.

I very much doubt whether many of those who voted leave gave any thought to the stress and distress it would cause.

I pay German health insurance, married to German National I was always in his system as a family member. Brexit makes no difference but I do know a lot of people who got added money for operations etc, I always thought that was unfair anyway. and wondered how the NHS could afford it.

What a lot of people don't know is that old people needing care get quite a bit of financial help here as all people in work pay 2% of their income into this 'care in old age' fund.
Most expats are not here anyway and those that are have good jobs and lately most are requesting German citzenship.

I can imagine France is no longer the ideal place to retire to.

I’m always hearing what fools the Brits are and have to correct them by saying that almost 50% of us did NOT want it.
OH! to just put the clock back!

Almost 50% voted remain in 2016 but for the last two years most voters told pollsters they would chose Remain. The last poll was 54% in favour of the UK remaining in the EU.

@ the OP WoodieGreenie if you're still reading:
I've just read elsewhere that after you've been in France for 3 months you can apply to join the french health system.
You will have to pay, as most french people do one way or another. The amount is means tested but much less than private insurance.
And you'll have to register as a french tax payer, which we all did. We paid tax in both UK and France.

Very different in Switzerland - the only option is to buy private insurance- that would be about £450 each for basic - and we would still have to pay the first 500 or so, and then 10%.

Fennel I put all the details about PUMA on page 1 of this thread. ? I really don't think retired people in France need to worry (unless they have failed to register for tax, in which case I have very little sympathy).

Yes, it seems people in France will be OK.

For us in EEA, we have no idea what will happen. The uncertainty is very stressful indeed. For anyone recently diagnosed with an illness requiring very expensive treatment, this must be very hard, and added worry which they really don't need to add to the situation.

Here it would add about £1000 a month for 2.