“EU health tourism costs the NHS billions”: Really?

In fact, official figures from the Department of Health show that the opposite is true! The cost to other European countries of treating Brits abroad is more than five times the cost to the NHS of treating EU visitors here. In other words, we benefit enormously from the EU rules, without which the NHS would be £125 million worse off each year. Evidence

This is not really a surprise. Brits who travel abroad tend to be older and so the healthcare they get abroad is more expensive. Other EU citizens who come to the UK are relatively younger and healthier, so they are less likely to need medical treatment while they’re here.

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