Travel insurance - check the small print..

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NOKYAI
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Re: Travel insurance - check the small print..

Post by NOKYAI »

I guess that’s the difference between travel insurance and medical/health insurance. Now in the U.K, if you have been an ex pat you have to be beck for 6 months before you can access the NHS. But as waiting lists are now so long there, I guess it doesn’t matter.
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dtaai-maai
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Re: Travel insurance - check the small print..

Post by dtaai-maai »

NOKYAI wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:19 am Now in the U.K, if you have been an ex pat you have to be beck for 6 months before you can access the NHS.
This isn't cast in stone. There's also the matter of exactly what is meant by 'accessing the NHS'. I was registered with a GP within 10 days of returning to the UK, had my first appointment a week later and was receiving a repeat prescription immediately after that (free of charge, as I'm 60). After an eyesight test (at Specsavers) 2 weeks after I arrived, the optician referred me for an urgent appointment with an NHS opthalmologist. I saw him 2 days later.

Entitlement to free NHS hospital treatment is not about nationality, but residency. Have a look at the guidelines on this Dept of Health website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ol__1_.pdf
Determining if a person is properly settled in the UK in order to establish if they are ordinarily resident here
It will not be necessary to use this tool for each patient, but only when there are doubts about a patient’s entitlement to free NHS hospital treatment and when their ordinary residence (OR) status is not immediately clear.
It's important to note that these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. A crucial paragraph states as follows:
The longer a person has been living in the UK the stronger the indication they are ordinarily resident here. A period of 6 months is only a rule of thumb and should be used with caution. It is important to note that a person can be ordinarily resident from the first day they arrive in the UK if they have genuinely come to settle for the time being.
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NOKYAI
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Re: Travel insurance - check the small print..

Post by NOKYAI »

Thanks for that, I was wondering what to when I finally retire. Either keep a place in the U.K. or a hotter European country as a bolt hole if I had major health problems
Enjoying 'Retirement'....So many jobs to do, I don't know how I ever had time to work!
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