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Originally Posted by Damien
Questions about the NHS would be: How much demand is placed by EU citizens? How much in taxes to they contribute? How many work in the NHS? God knows how we work all that out.
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It's not just a question of who contributes what in the long term though, it's the very massive and rapid population growth which is largely a result of EU migration which causes so many problems. It's all very well people having the freedom to move from one country to another but surely we have to take notice of the extra demands being placed on the NHS and as we all know it takes time to train doctors, build facilities, provide services etc. etc. etc. As it stands, we're forever trying to play catch up and frankly getting further and further behind every year. We can all see in various EU countries what inevitably happens when large numbers of people start arriving and placing demands on services etc. in an uncontrolled manner. Well that's what the EU's obsession with free movement leads to and although the naïve 'welcomes' and smokescreen of denial have long gone, the Eurocrats still don't accept that free movement is a problem.
I've always had a issue with the notion that the answer to our problems is more migration. It may well be a relatively short term benefit in some ways but if ever there was an ultimately self defeating policy that would be it. If we're taking a long term view, about what's sustainable, which we should be, we need to control population growth not the opposite because even young, fit migrants get old. If we had a system in which people had the right to work for a certain period of time and then go home that would be one thing but there's absolutely nothing to stop millions of people deciding they want to come to the UK not to work but to start new lives, have children etc. and never leave. In what way does that make sense when there are so many relatively poor countries in the EU with populations who, for the most part, could never dream of the incomes and services they can expect here? If it were a relatively even playing field across the EU it wouldn't be so bad but when certain countries become the target of huge migration we've seen what problems inevitably follow.
The flip side of the coin, in places like Greece is:
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Greece is in the midst of the worst brain drain in modern history, experts say.
“This is unprecedented in terms of the numbers of educated people that are leaving,” said Lois Labrianidis, a professor of economic geography at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki.
The country is hemorrhaging talent, as professionals in medicine, engineering and academics flee for a better economic climate and more stable employment. The pain has been particularly severe in the health care sector of Greece: Many of the country’s doctors have left or are making plans to do so.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/wo...oves.html?_r=0
Yes, it's true they could go elsewhere regardless of free movement within the EU too, but many are choosing to remain in the EU, mainly Germany.
Free movement is, IMHO, a disaster and one of the main reasons why we need to get out of the EU.