do we need medical insurance to visit the UK if we live in the USA now?

[americanlife]

Medical insurance for visiting the UK? What do people do when they visit the UK with their US born children? Do I need to get medical insurance to cover them in case we need NHS access? Am I and my husband okay to use the NHS ( in an emergency) since we paid in to National Insurance for 15 plus years, before we moved here or are we no longer covered now we live in the US? Cover for all of us, two of us or none of us? Kids do not have UK passports yet but are entitled to them- not sure if that has any effect on it.

[Bagadverts]

You need to check your current US medical insurance or buy a policy. See following NHS guidance relating to England

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/visiting-england/Pages/visitors-from-outside-the-eea.aspx

[RedRosie]

Obviously insurance is good - especially if you needed repatriation.

However, last week, my American nephew (staying with us, along with my brother and SIL) broke his ankle and we took him to A&E. We had to fill in forms etc, but were specifically told (and we double-checked) that they don't need to pay for emergency treatment. As they are here for several more weeks, this includes follow-up at the fracture clinic before they fly home.
So for emergency out-patient treatment you will be treated 'free at the point of need'. We were all grateful for the NHS at that point.

[lhavepassport]

Also being a UK tax player doesn't give you the right to us the NHS, we pay taxes on a property but aren't resident so cannot use NHS.

[lhavepassport]

You aren't covered as pp have said as it is based on residency, house owning doesn't count. Our US insurance covers us for overseas travel and our credit card also has coverage. Having said that we used a minor injuries clinic with dc and they had no interest in a UK sounding family's residence. It isn't like the USA where the insurance card is the first thing they care about.

[Semster]

J4nice comment spreads anti migrant hatred and is completely false - residents of the UK are entitled to access the NHS. UK taxpayers are not only UK born citizens.

Agreed, and glad to see it has been deleted.

[dramalamma]

You’re definitely not covered (I’ve paid while living abroad and they are much better at collecting payment these days) but equally you might be surprised by the cheapness of the care, especially compared to US standards. It was a couple of years ago now but eg it was £1000 for me to have my son (induced, epidural, night on the ward). They told me they charge by the day rather than by the procedure/medicine. So £50k (whole still being quite low) should go further than if you were in a completely private health care system. Having said that I’d definitely find a better grave insurance policy that covers repatriation etc but check your home policy first.

[MadgeMidgerson]

J4nice comment spreads anti migrant hatred and is completely false - residents of the UK are entitled to access the NHS. UK taxpayers are not only UK born citizens.

This is hate speech- would it be allowed about any other vulnerable group?

I come on this website for discussion and support and I encounter this post whipping up hatred against people like me- this isn’t an ‘opinion’, it’s pure bigotry.

Is it mumsnet’s position that this is the kind of post that helps make parents’ lives easier?

[Spanglyprincess1]

It's based on residency eg where you pay taxes not nessisarily where you live. Get insurance. The NHS don't always bil as they suck at admin but they can bill you afterwards eg send you a bill up to a year post treatment and you would need to pay or potentially if on a non UK passport be banned from re entering the UK until the bill is paid. The .gov website has advice on this.

[Nandocushion]

Our US insurance also covers us for overseas emergency treatment. Do you have insurance, OP?

[SeaToSki]

Our US health insurance covers us for emergency treatment worldwide. You just pay the bill and then send it to your insurance company for reimbursement. Ours will only cover emergency treatment, so you have to access care via A and E or an urgent care facility.

I have to say that I have used the NHS several times on our trips to the UK, and given them all my details and they have never sent a bill.

When we visited New Zealand and used A and E, they sent the bill and our insurance company paid it right away

[Semster]

Last time we visited the UK we had to call 111 for DD, and they were very easily able to see that we had not been registered with a UK doctor for several years and were not residents.

As it turned out she didn't need medical treatment, but they were very clear that if she did need treatment we would have to pay.

Our US medical insurance (Anthem) covers us abroad but treats it as out of network.

I bought a GeoBlue policy to cover the deductible ($12k for us out of network) and cover medical repatriation.

[juneau]

You need travel insurance for the whole family - including yourselves. The NHS is now very strict about 'health tourism' and if you aren't ordinarily resident here and cannot provide proof of address and aren't registered with a UK doctor then they'll know that you live overseas. I can't remember who we used to be insured with when we lived in the US, but we always had full and comprehensive, multi-trip insurance that covered us worldwide. It shouldn't be that expensive - our family policy here in the UK is about £120 a year for all four of us.

[vinegarqueen]

We are in the same position after years of paying national insurance/tax, as it counts for nothing if you haven't been resident in the past six months. Get travel insurance - it's not worth the risk of a hospital bill that could run into the price of a house deposit.

[Kursk]

It is based on residency. But if you still look and sound British you won’t have a problem using the NHS.

I am also a Brit in the US I used A&E on a visit back and was not challenged.

[QueenCity]

Yes, as PP says our health insurance here covers us for overseas trips. I'm not sure if it covers us for repatriation to the US though.

[NotMoreFootball]

Check your US health insurance policy before buying any additional policy, ours includes worldwide treatment as standard.

[Want2bSupermum]

Apparently the premium $1500 a year. Even if it's per family member they are making no money from us!!!!

[Want2bSupermum]

We have expat insurance as part of our package. It's very affordable for DHs employer and covers us for so many things, including copays and medical treatment. The limit is $250k a year outside of resident country and unlimited within our resident country (USA). It doesn't cover pre-existing conditions hence our DC are fully covered for all doctor mandated therapy treatments.

DH said it's with chartis.

[tribpot]

A&E treatment is exempt from charges for overseas visitors which may explain your experience, crayola. However, all hospitals have an Overseas Visitor Manager (in England, not sure about Scotland) for recovering costs. I was in A&E in Guy's Hospital a few years ago and they were definitely trying to figure out who might need to pay if they were admitted.

[TroubledLichen]

We’re in exactly the same situation; live in the US but pay UK taxes as we rent out our house.

Yes you need insurance. For our latest trip back to the UK and France we’ve taken our a stand alone medical policy for $71 for 2 adults and a baby with AIG that covers up to $50,000 worth of medical expenses/unlimited evacuation, found it on InsureMyTrip.com
(we don’t need insurance for our flights as they’re booked by DH’s work so we’re covered by their insurance)

[Todamhottoday]

Get travel insurance which will cover you all, god forbid you had to have air ambulance back to the US or worse.

[specialsubject]

you are not covered, you do not live in the uk . passport irrelevant. you arent here paying bills, buying stuff, being economically active.

and anyone leaving their home country needs repatriation insurance, alive or as a corpse. too many dont have it and end up begging on line.

[Candyflip]

Ah, maybe my case is different as I still meet residency requirements for the UK. I agree OP, I don’t think paying tax on a former home counts.

[Pythonesque]

I believe efforts are being made within the NHS create better systems to actually get payment from non-residents - this includes reciprocal stuff eg EHIC arrangements. Definitely you should be visiting with travel insurance; I think a rule of thumb is intention to stay 6 months or longer. I don't know what the right amount of travel insurance would actually be.