Louise3

Hold on guys, feeling a little under attack here. I'm afraid that people have been using the NHS who are not entitled to it. The reality is that even when we take insurance details the admin further up the chain do not follow it through and a very small percentage is clawed back. This is not anyone trying to fleece anyone it's just the poor admin. Going back to a post which called me a hypocrite, I have many years service with the NHS, so don't see why I should not avail myself of its service if I need it? I feel this went slightly off topic when someone said I shouldn't retire to the US if I couldn't afford it. I did mention I would always make sure I was covered for the time I was resident. Thank you to the very helpful people who posted about Medicaid, I realise it is complicated if you haven't paid into it and fully support that ideology. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Louise3

Yes it would be popular but it is so emotive an issue. Turning people away who go straight to the press etc. I agree they are different issues but at the end of the day if you are treating more people there is less money to go around. It all comes out of the same pot, paid for by the tax payer.

Louise3

I think you have misunderstood my post. I do not approve of health tourists, I have explained in another post so won't repeat myself � ����

Nutmegger

Medicaid and Medicare are two different programs. It is Medicare that you should be concerned with.

Louise3

Ok sorry

celticgrid

How does this statement address the earlier post?

I spent many years working for the UK Post Office...which of the rules applying to it may I just ignore?

I spent many years working for a bank...does that mean I can have free money?

In terms of addressing the earlier post, I think this latest comment has you still busily digging the hole you are in.

Louise3

But I would be entitled to NHS care if I only had a holiday home, are you saying I am less deserving than someone who has never paid for it? I didn't come here looking for an argument and I haven't criticised anyone on the forum, so I am at a loss as to who I have offended. I'm not in a hole I have been honest in my day to day experience of the NHS and I am grateful for the detailed explanation of Medicare.

Giantaxe

You originally wrote "I am in my late 50s and thinking of retiring to Florida", which seems to suggest a little more than buying a holiday home there. Hence people pointing out that if you weren't habitually resident in the UK, you wouldn't be entitled to most NHS care, despite having worked for the NHS and despite having paid taxes for many years in the UK.

Tirytory

See that's where people get unstuck, it's really not about being "deserving" it's about whether you are legally entitled to use NHS services. If you are because you meet residency requirements then great no problem, but your initial post was not phrased in that way, and you yourself said... "I'll just pop back for a quick elective"...

My husband and I are both ex NHS workers, but we don't live there anymore so we are not entitled to use it. It really is pretty simple.

Pulaski

Six months is likely a tipping point - so long as you spend most of your time in the UK and maintain a home in the UK, you won't have a problem. The more time you spend outside the UK, the greater the risk of you getting caught out over access to the NHS. And if you sell your home in the UK then you have almost certainly stepped over the line. .... When, or even "if" you would ever get caught is a whole other matter!

And as Tirytory said above, access is based on current eligibility, not on "how much you have paid into the system". ..... The "how much I have paid in" question is sometimes heard in the US too, people asking "what happens to what I paid in" when they're changing jobs.

Louise3

Then In a later post I spoke about maybe six months a year , obviously I may have to rethink what is best for me. Maybe take out insurance from the UK to cover my time in the US, but there must obviously be a time limit on that, it's something I'll have to look into. I still maintain in my experience the NHS is lax about chasing money owed. I'm floating possibilities around, so nothing is written in stone.

Louise3

Yes, thanks, I thought six months was somewhere near that point. And I was just giving you the truth about the NHS reclaiming money or refusing treatment. It's a political hot potato.

Louise3

Very simple thank you, you may not be entitled to use it as you have presumably established residency in the US? I repeat many people use the NHS who are not legally entitled to use it. Doesn't make it right but it's true. I know of many patients who have come back from abroad for elective surgery. I said it as a flippant remark, a thousand apologies to all I have offended.

Pulaski

It's not so much that you have "offended" anyone, but more that BE holds itself to a very high standard with respect to promoting or encouraging illegal activity - it is not only a specific site rule, but also something that pretty much all the regular posters agree with.

It is not uncommon for posts to be edited or deleted by moderators, and threads to be closed, for even relatively minor transgressions of the illegal activity rule.

Louise3

Lighten up I haven't done anything illegal!