“For the 190,000 expat state pensioners who have chosen to live in the EU and those intending to retire to the EU, it will help by safeguarding reciprocal healthcare if there is no EU deal,” announced the government.
Baron O’Shaughnessy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care commented, “Whether on holiday, working or retiring abroad, British people want to know they can access the same high quality healthcare that they enjoy in the NHS.
“This bill will allow us to implement new healthcare arrangements with other countries – in the EU and elsewhere – so that UK citizens can travel with confidence.”
Furthermore, the government has also reassured expats that it expects the existing EHIC scheme will survive “subject to an agreement with the EU”.
The bill was brought to parliament by Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price. It lays the “legal basis to fund and implement reciprocal healthcare schemes and share necessary data after we leave the EU”.
Although the move has been criticised by some, it is undoubtedly a positive move as it represents an important contingency in the event of a no-deal.
Blacktower, expat financial services
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ery worker in the UK who is a member of a company pension scheme will have to help fill a black hole estimated at £571million in the BHS pension scheme. This is because the Pension Protection Fund, which steps in when businesses collapse, gets its money through a levy imposed on all company schemes.