Many of us were dubious about the Oven Ready best ever deal ..

Lincslass This isn't about people "from many countries" escaping paying their medical bills. It's about British people living overseas but choosing to return for free medical treatment when it suits them. Possibly they don't care about Brexit because they're playing the system (and getting away with it) anyway.

Kali2

In the Express- PM ordered to get tough as British expats face Brexit Hell!

10s of 1000s of British expats have been living 'under the radar' - dipping in and out of Spain and UK, avoiding taxes, using NHS when they needed it, playing a 'now you see me, now you don't' silly game. And they have been caught out. Now I have no evidence for this, but I can wel imagine they would have been the first to vote for Brexit.

And this is not 'just' in Spain, but all over EU.

This has been going on for many years, and yes should have been cracked down on well before now. We are rather lax about people landing on our shores, from many countries and escaping paying their medical bills. Wether they voted for Brexit or not, isn’t the problem, being allowed to get away with fraud is.

Dinahmo - two things - we pay €25 when we go to see the Dr - or were you meaning after you have been reimbursed? We did not have to pay anything at all to get our CDS - from Perigueux - we found them to be very efficient.
I think Kali said about people living quite easily in the EU while we were also members but what we have found is that quite a few people never registered to pay income tax in the EU country - they are often the ones having a problem now.

If and when Scotland votes to leave the Union, we will probably not be blighted by a bunch of lying charlatans in charge who will do everything they can to deflect blame for any little thing that goes wrong and will blame the big bad French for all our problems.

Although I'm sure you'll tell me that you know better.

See what I mean, fallacious arguments and believing what the politicians told you.

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t you going to vote for independence in Scotland if Indy2 happens? Many experts and politicians are telling you that you will suffer financially or are deluded to think Scotland can go it alone. Prices will rise (what of the poor who can barely afford to heat their Scottish homes?) but you will be voting as you see fit, to which you are entitled. I totally respect that even though I fervently hope Scotland doesn’t exit the Union.

I think these referendums show people vote with their hearts. It’s not always about the money.

Nice try Alegrias. You forget, I have often said I voted they way I did in the hope to enhance the wages of the UK’s blue collar workers which, thanks to Brexit, is showing green shoots in that regard. Hauliers for example.

For too long big companies have taken on skilled workers from within the EU rather than providing apprenticeships or in house training for our own lads and lasses.

It’s going to be a huge juggernaut to turn around. The UK will have to accept, adapt and move on. It will happen.

Sorry, pressed enter too soon.

Don't feel small for your lifestyle choice, or financial situation. Good on you. Have a nice time in Spain.

Feel small for not considering anybody else in your choices and believing what the politicians tell you.

I voted on what I believe to be the best interests of the country as a whole, including those whose lives have been upended by this disaster.

It's not got anything to do with money.

I understand that may be a hard concept for you to grasp UG, but there you go.

I used my vote as did everyone who could be bothered to. It was an important referendum. I read extensively. I voted in what I believed to be in the best interests of myself and my family.

I obviously fall far below your moral compass Alegrias. I didn’t consider how people would be voting if they couldn’t afford to heat their homes. But then consider. They too has a vote. Their vote would cancel out mine!

My 2 homes are so tiny you would either laugh or be dismissive.

I never compare myself to others. Some posters on here are very wealthy. They own large second homes in the UK, some have horses, others own a boat with mooring costs etc.

I will not be made to feel small for my own lifestyle choices. And I will not wear sackcloth and ashes to please the bleeding hearts on here.

I’m not going to post much today but I’d just thought I'd say this.

Did I hurt your feelings Urmstongran? What a shame.

You know what hurts my feelings? People who voted for Brexit based on completely fallacious arguments and then tell us their lives haven’t changed. People who say that its quite doable to have a second home in Spain when some people who have worked hard for their pensions can’t even afford to heat their only homes, and are suffering from shortages brought about by the Brexit vote. People who think if anyone who criticises them it must be because they are jealous of their lifestyle. People who have no idea what they are responsible for, or don’t care.

Well if ever I do manage to buy a holiday home in Andalucía, it will probably be in Jerez. Menos expatriados ingleses.

And of course some have been living there perfectly legally as EU citizens- but now find that they just can't any longer because they have developped health issues, which can't be covered, or other linked problems.

In the Express- PM ordered to get tough as British expats face Brexit Hell!

10s of 1000s of British expats have been living 'under the radar' - dipping in and out of Spain and UK, avoiding taxes, using NHS when they needed it, playing a 'now you see me, now you don't' silly game. And they have been caught out. Now I have no evidence for this, but I can wel imagine they would have been the first to vote for Brexit.

And this is not 'just' in Spain, but all over EU.

Dinahmo The issue with my sister and her husband is that her husband has some quite serious health problems. They could be insured for long holidays, but not as residents, which is what they wanted to be. I've seen the paperwork and I can assure that it in their case it can't be done. Spain won't give them residency rights without the health insurance and nobody will insure my BiL, so they now have an empty house in Spain. Don't you think they would be living there, if there were a way?

growstuff

Kali2

Yes, and she was correct.

I was responding to YOUR comment, which I copied above. It is in fact very difficult NOW for EU older retirees to come and retire in UK.

I don't personally know any EU citizen who wants to live in the UK, so I can't comment and I'm not comparing. All I know is that my sister and her husband (who aren't retirement age yet) had been planning to live in rural Spain. They've both been learning Spanish in preparation. They were assured that they would be able to get residency and knew they would have to pay for private healthcare. If the UK had still been in the EU, they wouldn't have had to pay. No healthcare company will accept them, so they can't get residency. No thinking outside the box is possible.

We retired to France 13 years ago. Then the state pension age for women was 60, which I was and so we were able to get into the French health system and my DH, who is the same age as me, was accepted into the health system as my dependent. We had S1s which confirmed that the UK would be responsible for paying for our health care (Don't ask me how that happens)

Friends who retired here when they they hadn't reached state retirement age had to take out private health insurance. They are now in receipt of their state pensions and are in the French health system.

We do pay "top up" insurance. For the 2 of us it's now around 190 euros per month (we're aged 74 and 75) . It doesn't have to cost this much - the level depends upon whether you want a private room or a willing to share and there are some other differences.

When we arrived we didn't have to take out the top up insurance and I did consider not paying it because if you have a terminal illness, once diagnosed you pay nothing. However, a friend told us that we would have to pay towards diagnostic tests which can be expensive so we started to pay immediately.

I'm glad we did because whilst my DH was fit and healthy in England he has had a number of problems since we arrived here. One evening he had pains as if he was having a heart attack. At 11.00pm I called the emergency services and a doctor arrived within 15 minutes. She did an ecg which didn't detect anything wrong with his heart. she called the SAMU (paramedics) who came with a larger machine but the result was negative. It was obvious that he was in pain and so the pompiers were called and he was taken to hospital. In the early hours of the morning the doctors realised that he had pericarditis. Eventually we got an invoice showing that the cost of all this was around 4000 euros. We didn't have to pay this.

We have to pay whenever we visit the doctor -now we pay 7.50 euros per visit - it's more if you're younger. We rarely have to wait for a doctor's appointment, unless he's on holiday and we can either wait until he comes back or go another doctor.

Because the UK was in the EU when we became resident our state pensions increase in line with the UK state pensions. That will continue as part of the Brexit agreement.

We don't get the winter fuel allowance because the govt decided that the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest region of the UK. The reason being that they included the temperatures of the French overseas territories in their calculations. ie the West Indies where the temperatures are higher.

It is more complicated to retire here now but it can be done and there are now quite high fees to pay. I think we paid 40 euros for our residency application.

The question of Brexit still rears its ugly head. There are a few English couples in our village who voted for Brexit and they have fallen out with Remainers (indeed they called one couple traitors) and they have annoyed some French people because they talk about how they moved here because land and houses were so much cheaper and they make little effort to mix with the French locals.

Finally, no problem with finding a vet here.

We had to move to be near my parents to help them - we could because I have dual nationality.

''I don't personally know any EU citizen who wants to live in the UK,''

no me neither - they know about the waiting lists, shortages, the weather ;) etc. and the UK is just not attractive at the moment.

The only reason could be to come and live with or near a daughter or son who has settled in the UK long-term, as they become too old and need help and support. Unless they are very rich, they just would not be able to.

My other friend has a German mother, whose health is not good and needs her son to be there. He will inherit a German property when his mother dies. He has passed the language test and has a temporary residency visa. The sticking problem is healthcare. There is a reciprocal tax agreement between the UK and Germany, but no healthcare arrangement, so she would have to pay about 15% of her gross income on top of paying 40% tax in the UK and NICs. If the UK were still in the EU, she would be covered by the reciprocal agreement.

Kali2

Yes, and she was correct.

I was responding to YOUR comment, which I copied above. It is in fact very difficult NOW for EU older retirees to come and retire in UK.

I don't personally know any EU citizen who wants to live in the UK, so I can't comment and I'm not comparing. All I know is that my sister and her husband (who aren't retirement age yet) had been planning to live in rural Spain. They've both been learning Spanish in preparation. They were assured that they would be able to get residency and knew they would have to pay for private healthcare. If the UK had still been in the EU, they wouldn't have had to pay. No healthcare company will accept them, so they can't get residency. No thinking outside the box is possible.

Urmstongran

Sorry Kali2 but you said Much easier indeed for UK people to go to EU which is why I pointed out growstuff and her sister.

Never mind we’re going around in circles here.

This is what YOU wrote

In fact I’m horrified the EU does growstuff. Is that even the case if elderly people wanted to live in Europe to be with family in their autumn years? That seems draconian.

and this is what I was replying to. It is much more difficult for EU people to go and retire in UK, and perhaps join family there, than t'other way round. This IS draconian.

Isn’t Corbyn an Independent now?
?

Grany are you posting on the correct thread or is my brain just not computing? Quite possibly. I’m feeling punch drunk.

I wish I liked ‘Structly’.

Sorry Kali2 but you said Much easier indeed for UK people to go to EU which is why I pointed out growstuff and her sister.

Never mind we’re going around in circles here.

Focus group damming verdict on Starmer.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=usDlRF9mFEY

Rainworth South and Blidworth (Newark and Sherwood) by-election result:

IND: 66.2% (+35.8)
CON: 17.1% (-12.9)
LAB: 16.7% (-22.9)

Independent GAIN from Labour.

Yes, and she was correct.

I was responding to YOUR comment, which I copied above. It is in fact very difficult NOW for EU older retirees to come and retire in UK.