Expat pensioners returning to the UK for medical treatment could cost the National Health Service an extra £500m a year if reciprocal health agreements are withdrawn after Brexit, the Nuffield Trust has warned.
[...] A report published by the think-tank on Wednesday puts renewed pressure on the UK government to negotiate a post-Brexit deal for Britons living in the EU. [...]
According to the Nuffield Trust, 190,000 UK retirees live in other EU countries where they receive free access to healthcare under a reciprocal scheme. The think-tank estimates that if no replacement scheme is agreed and all the pensioners return to the UK for treatment, the cost to the NHS would be about £979m. The UK reimburses EU governments about half that amount for care provided.
Nuffield Trust also warned that an influx of pensioners would put extra pressure on hospital beds and staff levels. It said 900 extra beds could be required if all expat pensioners returned for treatment. The UK faced additional risks of higher medicine prices if it leaves the EU medicine licensing system, and a shortage of up to 70,000 social care workers by 2025-26, said the report, assuming that wages in the industry do not rise to attract more local staff to replace workers from the EU. [...]
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Nuffield Trust report
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