The Myth of the British National Health Servi

[Beanz]

Both my father in law and sister have spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 12 months, and yes it isn't ideal but all in all the NHS was really good and the treatment excellent.If we stop treating foreign people who come over to take advantage of the free health care , then the service would be better for the people who pay into the system.

Health tourists is one big suck on the NHS.

You shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you have a national insurance number or a valid working visa. That would soon cut out people going there as medical tourists. Otherwise, visitors should have private travel insurance and pay upfront. Do people really just go to the UK and get expensive treatments as tourists? Mindboggling.

It's not quite that simple. As an EU citizen you would have the right to similar free treatment on other EU countries. It is obviously a problem but as usual it's nowhere near as binary as most want it to be. Oversimplification seems to have become the new starting point for debate.