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Originally Posted by Mr K
If we don't claim it back, its no fault of Spanish. If anything it says they are more efficient.
I suspect our many drunken and elderly visitors to Spain cost a lot more in healthcare than Spanish visitors do to us.
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The bill for those "drunken and elderly [UK] visitors to Spain" gets sent to the UK taxpayer. It doesn't cost the Spanish anything. That is how the system operates.
EHIC S1 scheme for longer term residents.
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16.A disproportionate number of UK citizens benefit from the S1 scheme. There are only around 1.2 million UK citizens living in other EU countries, compared with around three million EU citizens living in the UK. But some 190,000 of those UK citizens are pensioners, who are more likely to benefit from the S1 scheme, compared to only 5,800 EU/EEA citizens who have registered for the S1 scheme in the UK.
17.On top of its EHIC expenditure, the UK spends approximately £500 million a year in reimbursements to Member States for healthcare provided to pensioners and others who have exported their accumulated benefits. The Department of Health and Social Care accepted that the system was cost-effective for the UK, not least because the cost of treatment overseas was often cheaper than in the UK. For example, Spain’s latest pensioner average cost—despite a recent upward revision—is now €4,173 compared with £4,396 in the UK.
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On the other hand they are also not spending their money, including VAT, in the UK.