Maintaining reciprocal health rights post-Brexit would benefit UK, says Lords report

It is not in the UK’s interests for reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the European Union and the European Economic Area to end after Brexit, a report from the House of Lords EU Committee has concluded.1

Although only around 1.2 million UK citizens live in other EU countries—compared with around three million EU citizens living in the UK—around 190 000 of those UK citizens are pensioners, compared with just 5800 EU/EEA citizens, the committee said.

The UK spends about £500m (€572m; $708m) a year reimbursing EU member states for healthcare provided to UK citizens. The report says that the Department of Health and Social Care has accepted that the system is cost effective for the UK, as treatment overseas is often cheaper. For example, the average cost of providing healthcare to a pensioner in Spain is €4173 (£3650), compared with …