dunroving

Not for genuine claimants, I would have thought. .

SanDiegogirl

No-one resents the genuine claimants ....... its the ones who make a "career" of never working from the time they leave school and live totally on the state.

mikelincs

OK, under the rules at present, as a British Citizen coming to live full time in the UK you would be covered from day 1. all you would have to do is to tell the health centre your situation, and they would be able to find your NHS number, and should sign you up straight away. You may have to sign some form declaring you are going to be a full time UK resident. This will NOT change in the near future.

Caruthers

..And of course, it wouldn't harm to make some retrospective NIs payments, if you aren't already paying tax too. Ironically, "Ask not what your country can do for you..."

dunroving

I was trying to draw a parallel between returning residents ("non-contributors" in Caruthers' terms) and genuine "dole" claimants (also "non-contributors"), in order to point out the flaw in focussing on "contribution".

Citizen NHS tourists and other people who play the system, such as the career claimants you are referring to, are a different class.

In the case of the OP that Caruthers was responding to, the returnee would become a legal resident - so the "pay up" comments are not needed.

The whole premise of the UK welfare system was for those who have work and pay taxes to help out those less fortunate than themselves. There are those who have figured out how to play the system, and as a taxpayer I get rightfully indignant at them, but I don't see why returning citizens should be the target of a Daily Mail-type comment.

mikelincs

I agree, the people the government are really gunning for are those living in another country who return to the UK just to get NHS treatment, often because it is expensive in the country they are living in. Also those living in other countries who move over to the UK just for a short while to get free NHS treatment.

TheEmperorIsNaked

Yup. Very subtle!

vinamary

Going back to the original thread I have the "official" ruling on the ex-pats receiving health care in Britain on vacation.
As a UK pensioner and having lived there for 10 years previous to emigrating you are entitled to hospital care...not just emergency.
The GP is independent to the NHS, and his decision to take you as a patient is left to him. This will probably end this year with the new legislation.

Information from Department of Health in UK

Giantaxe

Especially as a returnee would presumably be paying for the NHS through their income taxes on returning.

Caruthers

I found it odd that the previous poster had been here most of their life, and presumably had not been making NI contributions ( I could be wrong) and then was talking about free NHS eligibility. I would have thought that would irk some folks.

I appreciate tax funds NHS but NI does to an extent too, to a lesser extent and I believe it proves working contributions. There is a way to make retrospective NI payments, perhaps a fairer question to be asking.

I have made payments all the time I have been here even when its been very hard on the basis that I may go back one day. I know others have done that too.

And no I don't read the Daily Mail.

dunroving

Most expats who pay NICs from overseas don't do so through a sense of duty to the motherland - it's because it gives them the cheapest pension plan you can get, just about anywhere in the world. Now THAT irks some people, too.

Caruthers

Its just a lottery, some of us won't make it that far to collect! In the meantime, the reality is the money is a contribution.

dunroving

But not to the NHS - see the table in the link provided. As per my comment, most voluntary NICs paid for by expats are made primarily because they are a cheap way to boost eligibility for state pension. Whether you live long enough to receive state pension has nothing to do with the topic of the thread.

You seem to be missing the point of the OP, and your original response that returnee residents should have to pay to get NHS treatment.

Paying voluntary NICs while overseas does not count as a contribution that makes you any more or less eligible for NHS treatment. The OP should not have to pay anything before returning to take residency - she will be eligible for NHS treatment as a resident of her home country.

Caruthers

But that's just the problem, it won't last much longer with the shortfalls predicted so its just as well people who haven't contributed to UK tax for all their lives get back soon and get their allocation of free stuff while it lasts. Besides its their birthright, right?

dunroving

Why don't you just come out and say what you really feel about the situation, instead of all this dancing indirectly around what you think? You know, all of this projecting it onto what "some folks" might think.

There may not be much left in the pension pot either - in which case, all of those cheap voluntary NI contributions paid overseas might be revalued ....