Apart from the extra burden on housing and education, medical care will be a priority for the newly-arrived. But the NHS is not ailing because we are living longer, or because we demand elective surgery and new off the shelf drugs, etc etc. That has been a longstanding lie for two decades.
In theory half a billion EU people can claim free NHS care. We are being flooded with health tourists, and the fault lies with our misplaced liberalism and the repeated failure of our govts to adjust eligibility so that it falls in line with other EU countries. Eligibility depends on residency, not contributions made. At the moment, any EU citizen can claim free treatment in our hospitals but that is not reciprocated to Brits by France, Spain, Italy, etc.
*The DoH confirms that anyone deemed ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK is entitled to free NHS care, and that ‘a person can be ordinarily resident in more than one country at once’. DoH further explains: “For EU national it is perfectly possible to be ordinarily resident here from the day of arrival”. The person simply gives the address of a friend or relative who lives here, no checks are done. Hospitals see people fly in from various parts of the EU and manage to get operations and cancer treatment free of charge. They do not pay, hospital does not seem to ask for reimbursement, and instead we are having services and medications curtailed as if it is our fault for being too needy.
Why is Britain so generous to EU people, but we cannot obtain free healthcare in EU countries? That is not parity. You can flash a European Medical Card all you like, but you will be told that you have to pay for treatment now wherever you find yourself, i.e. France, and then claim refund on return to Britain.