fledermaus

I agree.

Once you leave the UK you are no longer eligible. If you arent resident then its not your NHS anymore. You need insurance to cover anything that may happen.

The trouble is that people think about entitlement when it's eligibility.

BristolUK

There are NHS cards with numbers, but that proves nothing, just that you were registered once. The same as a NINO proves nothing even though many UK employers wrongly believe it means they can employ someone.
The same as a UB40 got you a discount even though you hadn't been unemployed for years and, in any case, it said bugger all about your income.

BristolUK

Tourists as in visitors? ie Non residents?
I now live in Canada and qualify for Medicare. Why should I expect the NHS to cover me too?

Auld Yin

Systems such as those in the UK and Canada are open to wide abuse. Ontario's scheme (OHIP) requires all members to have a card to be presented at every occasion for medical care. It has been highlighted in the media a number of times that there are tens of thousands of bogus cards out there, held by US citizens and former Canadian residents who have abandoned the country. Overtly heavy handed checking systems would cause healthcare in Ontario to bog down quite quickly. I do not buy the argument that someone's former residency/paying taxes entitles them to continued care. I believe the US residents getting cards has been stopped, but still left many with cards for use, I guess, until they die.

spooooook

As a British citizen, unless you renounce your citizenship, you still have an actual or potential tax liability even if you are no longer a permanent resident of the UK. The argument therefore is that if you're liable for the taxes as a citizen, you should be entitled to all the benefits of citizenship, including free NHS care if you should need it, when you visit the country of which you are a citizen.

Auld Yin

Does the UK Government subscribe to such a theory? If so, then everyone emigrating should decline to renounce UK citizenship. Having said that I, for one, do not agree with dual citizenship for anyone. I ask this question because I do not know, but do immigrants to the UK take citizenship in a similar way as is done in Canada/US?

Almost Canadian

Of course it doesn't that's why the previous poster's comments should be ignored. It's comments like their's that make me so glad I no longer live there. Lately, it seems that Brits only concern themselves with "entitlements" never "liabilities" or "responsibilities" however one wishes to describe it. The suggestion that because one has paid for something for years, one it entitlement to something is ridiculous. Imagine trying to argue the same to an insurer once you have swapped companies to seek a better deal. The analogy appears, to me, to fit this situation perfectly.

Almost Canadian

Does she steal candy from young children as well? Seems about as moralistic as what she is doing

Almost Canadian

Unfortunately, Steve, there isn't. So long as there are people that are prepared to abuse the system (many among the members here from the look of it) the greater the likelihood that those that are in need of the system they still actually contribute to will have to have resources taken from them to make way for the freeloaders.

Almost Canadian

Please explain the actual or potential tax liability of a British citizen as opposed to another citizen in identical circumstances (i.e., when would a British citizen be taxed when a non-British citizen wouldn't, excepting of course diplomatic immunity etc)? I can't wait to see your answer to this one.

Once you have failed to answer this, please confirm that you post is baseless

Jerseygirl

All non residents of the UK are entitled to free emergency treatment only.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/E...able/DH_074374

nooka

It would be difficult to have any significant treatment without being registered to a GP practice, as that's how the internal billing system works. No GP, no treatment, except for emergencies. If you keep up your registration when you leave the country, then getting treatment is easy. But GPs are supposed to clean their lists (although they are paid partly on the basis of how many patients are on their list, so they have some incentive for holding onto you).

However for the OP there really isn't much point in going for the UK option, as the savings would be pretty marginal, quite apart from the fraudulent aspects.

To be quite honest I think the comments about "deserving" ex-pats vs terrible health tourists is almost certainly discriminatory, and most likely racist. Both groups are committing fraud, in claiming something they have no entitlement to. If you live abroad, and earn abroad then you are not liable for or paying any UK tax, and not eligible for any UK benefits. Whatever you did in the past is irrelevant, as the UK system is not based on any concept of building up credit.

jericho

Says who?

nooka

The government, as you would have seen if you looked at JerseyGirl's link:

Nationality or past or present payments of UK taxes and National Insurance contributions are not taken into consideration when establishing residence. The only thing relevant is whether you ordinarily live in the UK.

You choose to leave, then you choose to forgo both the good and the bad parts about the UK.

Jerseygirl

Whether you pay tax or not as nothing to do with NHS entitlement. There are plenty of people living in the UK who don't pay tax and never have who are entitled to NHS treatment. To be entitled to treatment you must be a UK resident or if you are a visitor to the UK require emergency treatment. BTW emergency treatment does not necessarily mean a broken leg or appendicitis...is can be as simple as an ear infection.