Friday, April 27, 2012

Just another reason to leave.

Many people think that the health service is free, when in actual fact it's anything but. It's free at the point of use for some things (though not all) and it's certainly free for those who don't contribute to the system via taxation.
Which is where this lovely little EU decision comes in...
Express.
BRITAIN was ordered by EU chiefs last night to give millions of foreigners full access to NHS healthcare.
In a move that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, the Brussels-based European Commission insisted that immigrants from within the EU are entitled to stay and use the service indefinitely even if they do not pay UK taxes.
The Eurocrats ordered the British Government to scrap current rules stating that jobless EU citizens cannot stay in the country for more than three months unless they have their own health insurance.
“This breaches EU law,” said a statement from the commission.
It insisted that “entitlement to treatment by the UK public healthcare scheme” was sufficient to allow migrants without health insurance to stay indefinitely.
The Government was given just two months to comply or face being dragged to the EU’s European Court of Justice and hit with a swingeing fine.
And it was also instructed to go much further in giving full rights to EU citizens to live and work in Britain.
Now to my mind, if you weren't born here or have not paid into the system some sort of fixed amount then you should have to take out health insurance, however the EU rarely thinks like that, as far as it's concerned we're all Europeans and what applies in one country applies to all. In other words you get free health care here, but in say France you have to pay for extra insurance to use their system. Pretty much the same in any country you choose to move to to take up work or residence.
They might think it fair, but the costs will come out of my pocket, out of any taxpayers pocket. It really is simple, you pay in or you get nothing, but I'm not going to hold my breath on the government actually fighting this, Cameron's gutless giveaways extend to pretty much all aspects of the EU and abroad.
Can we please just get some politicians with the gumption to actually get us out before it leaves us penniless?

1 annotations:

Weekend Yachtsman said...

In France, if you go to a hospital for anything other than an emergency, you have to prove (a) that you're legally resident and (b) that your taxes are up to date - otherwise it's take a hike time.

But of course, THOSE kinds of EU laws don't apply in France, do they?