At ex pat neighbour and NHS use

[woolythoughts]

Neighbour emigrated to Thailand about 30 years ago. We kept in touch with him over the years. Whilst his mother was still alive, they came back twice a year and made sure that they did opticians and various other routine things whilst here.

He now rents his mothers old house out to tenants.

He’s now been diagnosed with cancer and is currently making travel arrangements to return to the UK, evict his tenants and get cancer treatment on the NHS as decent treatment is too expensive for him to pay for where he is.

He’s paid nothing into the country for the last 30 years so how can it be right he’s able to do this?

And before anyone asks, yes I am 100% sure of my facts.

My county spends well over £1,000,000 a day on adult social care
totally separate from any NHS spending

It's also the self funders who work, pay in and save who get a rough deal, they are paying over the odds for their own care and have to subsidise council funded care.

Oh fgs. This is a man who has chosen to live overseas and not contribute for decades. He is not destitute- as op says he has a house. And you still get a personal allowance if you live overseas so as op says he hasn’t paid tax on rental income.

What would happen if everyone did that? Where would the money come from to pay for the NHS? This is not someone desperate, a refugee etc who has no choice. This is someone who openly chose not to contribute to the uk and now, when they need to take, instead of paying for private care chose to come back and take healthcare others paid for. Ofc it is understandable but certainly not right.

Yanbu op. I lived in a country where I had no access to local healthcare etc. I paid for private insurance.

My understanding was that to be eligible to NHS healthcare you needed to have a UK address, be registered with a UK GP and live in the UK at least 6 months a year. Unless the rules have changed in the last few years.

You could say the same about scroungers who never contributed anything at all and enjoy NHS and even miss appointments. I dont have much sympathy for this man because I think he is an absolute hypocrite re Brexit.

Well my god !! What a delight you are!!

How can you begrudge anyone treatment he has cancer !! Be thankful for your own health.

Honestly you have taken time out of your day to post on an online forum about a man suffering with cancer and how it's made you mad because he using the NHS ? If your going to get mad about people using the NHS maybe get mad about missed appointments or something but cancer ??? How bad is your day for you to have the time to complain about this ?

Actually I have a few more questions
Do you support Trump?
How much have you personally contributed to the NHS ?

I hope are grateful for your health and never find your self in this poor mans situation

The problem here is this idea that you can only get out what you pay in.
The NHS doesn't work like that, thank God. As evidenced by treatment for children, low earners, unemployed, etc.
If you live here you get treatment.

well the idea of "you can only get out what you pay in"is not true for many things in the UK

the system is there for all regardless of income

I'm with you OP. I haven't read the full thread as two pages full of 'oh but he has cancer' was enough. Having cancer doesn't vindicate your personality. If you decide to move overseas then you should look into whatever avenues are required to secure decent healthcare. If you can't afford to do this in the country you're moving to, then you probably shouldn't move. You can't have your cake and eat it, except actually you can and it just makes you a pisstaker cancer or no cancer. Op is not suggesting he dies, just that he should have to pay the levy for exactly the circumstances that he will be lying about by saying he is moving back to UK permanently.

If you don't like him though op, just say something. I couldn't keep contact with someone who was such a hypocrite moaning about the the things they are benefitting from because they don't want others to (Brexit).

I’m an expat. While overseas he was not liable to pay tax on hisThai income as the UK taxes British non-residents on uk income only. Eg I don’t pay UK tax on my salary I earn in HK but I do pay UK tax on my rental income from renting my UK house. I pay HK tax on my salary.
If he moves back he becomes resident immediately and can use the NHS.

He’s not actrually doing anything illegal. He’s gaming it but it’s not illegal.

He doesn't have to pay tax on rental income as a non-UK resident landlord

He does.

Yes, it’s cheeky, but I wouldn’t want a system where you have to jump through hoops for care or are only eligible if you’ve been here a certain amount of time.

I know someone who does exactly the same. She lives overseas but is registered as living with her daughter. Comes back home for NHS care because the lovely place in the sun she moved to doesn’t have great medical facilities. She voted for Brexit too. I do wonder whether that will scupper her plans.

Don't blame the players, blame the game. The man is seriously ill and doing what anyone would do in his position, ie. giving himself the very best possible chance of a positive outcome. What would you do in his position? Be honest, really honest with yourself, wouldn't you do the same...?

I think it makes sense for entitlement to the NHS to be residency based.

Think about this: there are lots of people in the UK who are on long term benefits and don’t pay tax. Should they not be entitled to use the NHS?

I came to UK more than 10 years ago, worked and paid taxes the whole time. Did not use NHS services much because I am a generally healthy person and never been on benefits. I am now planning to leave for various reasons including Brexit bullshit. Following your logic I should be entitled to a serious refund? That's not going to happen though.
My taxes will probably be used to cover for your neighbour as well as yourself in case you require treatment that costs more than you contributed to NI in your life.
This system is not fair but if we start counting who contributed what all money will go to accountants and nothing will be left for the doctors.

I agree with the OP that it's not fair of him to use the NHS like this. If you choose to live in another country then you should have sufficient medical insurance or are correctly registered/ and or paying tax or other contributions to that country. Really the NHS need to tighten up checks on patients for everything other than emergency treatment, but whenever this is mentioned there's always a huge outcry. Funny how other countries manage to do it though.

lillighter no I wouldn't do the same. If I moved abroad I would look into whether I needed health insurance or adopt whatever the system is in the country I chose to reside in.

Seriously, forget that this man was born in UK and he has a house over here. He is visiting and lying about living here permanently in order to receive free healthcare and then leaving again. I could maybe understand if he was born into a country with an outrageously expensive healthcare system but he knowingly moved there. So it's tough shit, did he think he was immortal the last 30 years? No he just thought he would come back and sponge off NHS when he would eventually need it which he now does.

It's not about paying taxes the NHS is bloody brilliant and I'm very happy that the poorest and most vulnerable get free treatment and prescriptions.

And to those who say blame the game not the player. If no one has a conscience or moral compass then the world is fucked.

i checked when my dbro was diagnosed with cancer. you cant pop to and fro but if he returned to the uk permanently he could access treatment from day 1.
its true he has lived in the states for 18 years. he paid tax and ni for 15 years before going
and facing redundancy in the states with cancer aint a small problem.
he hasnt come back yet.

How old is he,if say he is 60 he was living here for 30 years so are we saying if you're 30 you're not entitled to health care?Are we saying if you're 20 since you've probably paid very little tax you get very little health care?
You don't seem to object to the opticians but object to him getting cancer treatment.If he's still British he's still entitled.