Agreement reached on reciprocal healthcare for British and EU retirees

An agreement has been reached between the EU and Britain on reciprocal healthcare for retirees.

British pensioners who have retired to other EU countries will continue to have their healthcare paid for by the NHS post-Brexit, after a deal in principle was agreed by negotiators in Brussels.
There has been agreement on reciprocal healthcare for British and EU retirees. Other areas of agreement include protection for frontier workers, those who live in one EU member state and work in another. This includes people who live in the UK and commute to Europe, or Brits settled in one country that commute to work in another, such as Spain to Gibraltar.
According to figures issued to a parliamentary select committee this year, Britain spends £650m reimbursing other EU countries for treating British patients. Of that, about £500m goes on 190,000 registered pensioners, including 70,000 in Spain, 44,000 in Ireland, 43,000 in France and 12,000 in Cyprus.

European Health Insurance Card – EHIC now

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) entitles citizens of EU countries to state-provided emergency medical treatment within the EU country they are visiting.
It works in any EU country, as well as Switzerland, and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries of Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. It will continue to work for as long as the UK is in the EU, while Brexit negotiations continue. According to the current timetable, that is until midnight on 29 March 2019.

EHIC after 2019 agreed

UK/EU agreement will allow British pensioners who have retired in another EU country to travel to other EU countries on holidays and use the existing European Health Insurance Card should they need medical attention.

EHIC after 2019… in discussion

Britain is pushing for this agreement to cover British tourists, students, workers and expats- but the EU will not discuss it as part of a deal for EU citizens- only in late 2017 or early 2018 trade talks.
Britain reiterated its commitment not to enforce the requirement that EU citizens, who are self-sufficient, including students and stay-at-home parents, have private health insurance. They will be able to be treated by the NHS.

Frontier workers right to work

Those who are working as a frontier employee or self-employed worker will retain the rights they currently enjoy to enter and to work in the host country. The rights they enjoy in their country of residence are similarly protected.
Exactly how UK citizens in the EU will be identified is still being discussed.

Pensioner health rights

For UK pensioners living in the UK and EU pensioners in the UK- whether as residents or on a temporary stay. At present, wherever the person getting a state pension lives in the EU, the country paying that pension also pays for healthcare. So a UK expat pensioner living in Spain gets their healthcare paid for by the UK government.

The UK and EU have agreed that this reciprocal deal will continue after 2019.

EU Cross- border directive

This has yet to be discussed.