Yes, kick us out of Europe!

THE EU has decided to play hardball and is now threatening that after Brexit, Britons abroad could lose the ‘free’ healthcare we get via the European Health Insurance Card scheme (EHIC).

This is a reciprocal agreement whereby hospitals within the European Economic Area (plus Switzerland) accept that the cost of treatment following any accident will be paid by the NHS.

Similarly, visitors from Europe can use our health service for free and the money will be recouped from their home healthcare system.

But petulant EU officials want us out of this arrangement. Well, good. It was a rubbish scheme anyway. It cost us dearly and continues to do so every day.

When you compare how much we pay out to European countries and how much we get back, the threat to kick us out of the EHIC is far from the disaster some are making it out to be.

In fact, I say to Europe, bring it on. Europeans have far more to lose than we do.

At present, the amount we claw back is falling: hospitals recouped £49.7m last year, compared with £50.7m the year before. But in the same year, the UK government handed over £674 m to European governments to treat UK citizens.

We’re owed far more than we receive: around £600 m a year.

The problem is that UK hospitals aren’t set up to recover costs in the way those in the rest of the EU are, because we operate an entirely nationalised health service, free at the point of access. Hospitals in, say, France, are used to costing procedures and billing patients, but this is anathema to the UK system.

If we’re kicked out of the EHIC, then EU visitors will be treated in the same way as visitors from other countries.

This system is also far from perfect. So let’s use Brexit finally to get things in order.