Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to cover healthcare costs for UK nationals living in EU countries indefinitely until separate arrangements have been reached with each EU Member State.

The United Kingdom Government has proposed to all Member States that we should maintain existing reciprocal healthcare arrangements until 31 December 2020 if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal.

I laid a Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS1832) on 26 September 2019, setting out the Department’s position on ‘no deal’ reciprocal healthcare arrangements, and updated information has been published on GOV.UK and NHS.UK on the situation for each Member State, including what arrangements have been put in place. These pages will be kept updated as further assurances from Member States are received.

The UK will consider the long-term arrangements for reciprocal healthcare once we have left the EU.