Reuters photo
By
Hazel Speed
The Nuffield Trust has stated that there are 190 thousand expat Pensioners living in Europe, and if they had to return for medical care (post Brexit negotiation outcome, if no reciprocal agreement is possible), then it will be a huge financial/practical burden on an already overstretched NHS.
I listened to this news on the radio then waited to hear the ‘fair balance’ of facts also being referred to thereafter, but was not surprised to note that nothing else was forthcoming.
Even if the Nuffield Trust did cover the pertinent aspect themselves, written or verbal, it was not mentioned in these news updates, so here is what should also be said.
If indeed, as we are being told, 3 million EU citizens presently reside in the UK, then regardless of Brexit negotiations, (and even if an agreement was reached, the EU citizens are still benefitting more in numbers), then either EU citizens will have to return to their own countries in respect of medical services, or pay to have that facility within the NHS, which would more than pay for medical treatments of expats and hospital beds, nursing services, etc.
So rather than losing money, the NHS would more than benefit from such income, and no NHS workers lost, unless they choose to go home.
There are those who think that expats should decide which country they want to live in also, or perhaps if, as we learn, some are already paying a general and part specialist insurance in overseas countries anyway, not just within the EU, then they should be charged a ‘suitable fee’ for such services in their home country or take out similar insurance cover suited to expats, but remembering they have, already paid into the UK health system all their working lives anyway, so any charges (if indeed any are to be imposed as they may not be), should be more by way of a token fee.
It is an emotive aspect, as is dual citizenship, and is often seen as having one’s cake and eating it too.
Also, news of a document has emerged which states that the Labour Party will seek many numbers of people, post Brexit, to come to Britain, fill non skilled, or low skilled jobs, and more, such as fruit pickers, which younger UK age groups could be trained to do, i.e. school leavers wanting knowledge of farm work, thereby facilitating a course on mixed formats, but which groups should be paid a good wage, with excellent work packages.
Why can’t British people fill these employment vacancies – because they should not be offered slave wages, so what does Mr Corbyn intend paying immigrant workers, and why wasn’t all this in his Manifesto?
As it was not in the Labour Manifesto, it has now been explained away that the document was just a working ‘discussion document’. At any rate, it was news to at least one Labour MP being interviewed earlier!
The material printed by the Nuffield Trust, then referred to by broadcasters, gives only one side of an argument, so for the media to run with this aspect alone, and not the whole picture of evidence, may influence voters accordingly and therefore based on a bias.
All we have heard are the rights of EU nationals in the UK, but never hardly the rights of the UK nationals in Europe. If and when UK expats do return to the UK, then whether it is to have medical treatment or to return to live here, we must remember they have a prior right to that of EU nationals, after all it is their home, and they will have paid their dues to the UK over a lifetime, but for some politicians and others, European ‘bottled water’ is thicker than ‘British blood’, apparently, when normally, it is more usual to say, as the expression tells us, that blood is thicker than water, i.e. to look after one’s own first!
Voters should be on their guard leading up to the General Election on 8 June, and not be duped by all these tactics, albeit many more misleading ones still do exist of course.
Hazel Speed
Photo (c) Hazel Speed – used by kind permision to Tuck Magazine
Hazel Speed is a Philosopher, Writer, and Artist with various creative projects at differing stages of development. Her flaship project is an animation which has produced a film short: www.thepinkprofessor.com. She has also written an E-novel, ‘Just Suppose…!‘ which is available via the attached link.
Art sites: www.candystoreart.com, www.terrificart.com, www.artbadges.co.uk.
Revealing and disturbing.