Should expats get free care on the NHS?

WHY should taxpayers fund expats’ healthcare after Brexit (Mail)? They chose to live abroad and now expect us to feel sorry for them if they have to fund their own healthcare. Some even get the winter fuel payment and vote on what affects us in the UK. Why? If someone decides to live abroad, it is up to them to sort out their healthcare and not rely on reciprocal agreements. The NHS should charge overseas visitors for healthcare and be more robust in recovering monies owed. BRIAN JENKIN, Swadlincote, Derbys. WE SHOULD put UK citizens living in the UK first and not give priority to British expats and foreigners when negotiating Brexit. After all, it is we in the UK who will have to live with the outcome.

ROBERT J. EVANS, Birmingham. THE Nuffield Trust warns that if British expats had to return for medical treatment to the UK, it would cost us £1 billion. It ignores the fact that if EU countries do not provide medical treatment for our citizens we can refuse medical treatment for EU citizens in the UK. JOHN FINLAY, Mayfield, E. Sussex. THERE are fears that pensioners living abroad would cripple the NHS if they came home. But their medical treatment abroad is paid for under reciprocal agreements. If they all get a pension, that’s £5 billion a year they are spending in a foreign country instead of here. A. STEAD, Loftus, Redcar & Cleveland. MANY expats are not technically allowed to return for treatment in the UK. But they return because their local healthcare is not as all-encompassing as it is in Britain. STEPHEN BIRDS, Bury.