| Author (Corporate) | United Kingdom: House of Lords: Select Committee on the European Union |
|---|---|
| Publisher | United Kingdom: Parliament |
| Series Title | 13th Report |
| Series Details | (2017-19)HL107 |
| Publication Date | 28/03/2018 |
| Content Type | Policy-making, Report |
|
The United Kingdom: House of Lords: Select Committee on the European Union: EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee published a report Brexit: reciprocal healthcare on the 28 March 2018. The Committee feared that in the absence of an agreement on reciprocal healthcare, the rights of UK citizens to hold an EHIC card for treatment in the EU would cease after Brexit. Further information The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union could have a significant impact on the UK’s access to EU reciprocal healthcare arrangements. These arrangements supported the free movement of people by eliminating the financial or bureaucratic barriers that millions of citizens, whether UK nationals resident in the EU or those from the EU resident in Britain, would otherwise face in accessing treatment. Reciprocal healthcare arrangements also played a vital role in allowing people with disabilities or long-term health conditions, the elderly, and children with healthcare needs, to travel abroad and avoid prohibitively expensive insurance costs. The UK Government's ambition post-Brexit was to continue the access provided by the current arrangements. In its report, the Committee examined the draft Brexit agreements drawn up by the UK and the EU, and assessed the extent to which they address the concerns raised by witnesses. Key findings + In the absence of an agreement on future relations that covered reciprocal healthcare, the rights currently enjoyed by 27 million UK citizens, thanks to the EHIC, would cease after Brexit. Other rights, provided for by the S2 scheme and Patients’ Rights Directive, would also come to an end. + Reciprocal healthcare arrangements post-Brexit would only be achieved by agreement between the UK and the EU. The Government had not yet set out its objectives for the future UK-EU relationship. The Committee therefore urged the Government to confirm how it would seek to protect reciprocal rights to healthcare of all UK and EU citizens post-Brexit, as part of any agreement on future relations. + It wass essential that, as well as having a continuing right to access long term healthcare, EU citizens lawfully resident in the UK should be provided with a practical means by which to exercise that right. The Committee called on the Government to use domestic legislation to clarify the means by which all EU citizens lawfully resident in the UK at the time of Brexit would be able to continue to access essential healthcare. + The Committee welcomed the assurances contained in the Joint Report about the importance of maintaining freedom of movement under the Common Travel Area and cooperation under the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Regardless of the other arguments against a hard border, any such barrier would be highly detrimental to healthcare for patients on both sides of the border, including children and other vulnerable patients. |
|
| Source Link | https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldeucom/107/107.pdf |
| Related Links |
|
| Subject Categories | Health |
| Countries / Regions | United Kingdom |
