Looking to emigrate to country with cheap healthcare

pinkshoes

UKNeil said:

Hi,

Due to the collapse of the NHS and being nearly 2 years on an NHS waiting list I am looking for suggestions of countries to emigrate to that have good reasonably priced healthcare. Any suggestions welcome. Its hopefully only a minor operation but one that might re-occur. I absolutely love my country and will be devastated to leave it but I can no longer live in a country where i am unable to work due to lack of healthcare.

I believe Japan has excellent healthcare and costs are controlled and kept low by the government. You have to live there for a year before being able to access it though, so would need private healthcare first.

I'm feeling this post is just one of those whingy the-uk-is-falling-apart-broken-britain style posts though, because the cost of emigrating is HUGE, so given this is a minor operation, then clearly the moving costs would be way more than paying private.

I'm also curious as to what this operation is. 2 year waiting list means clearly not urgent. Something that might re-occur. Hmmmm... Liposuction? Having a cyst removed that might grow back? (I may have been watching a little too much Dr Pimple Popper...). Hair transplant? Carpel tunnel surgery of some sort?

74jax

pinkshoes said:

UKNeil said:

Hi,

Due to the collapse of the NHS and being nearly 2 years on an NHS waiting list I am looking for suggestions of countries to emigrate to that have good reasonably priced healthcare. Any suggestions welcome. Its hopefully only a minor operation but one that might re-occur. I absolutely love my country and will be devastated to leave it but I can no longer live in a country where i am unable to work due to lack of healthcare.

I believe Japan has excellent healthcare and costs are controlled and kept low by the government. You have to live there for a year before being able to access it though, so would need private healthcare first.

I'm feeling this post is just one of those whingy the-uk-is-falling-apart-broken-britain style posts though, because the cost of emigrating is HUGE, so given this is a minor operation, then clearly the moving costs would be way more than paying private.

I'm also curious as to what this operation is. 2 year waiting list means clearly not urgent. Something that might re-occur. Hmmmm... Liposuction? Having a cyst removed that might grow back? (I may have been watching a little too much Dr Pimple Popper...). Hair transplant? Carpel tunnel surgery of some sort?

I'm starting to think so... 🤔.
Way back on page 1, only 2nd post, I asked the cost of going private so we could offer emigration ideas cheaper than that - I presumed they'd looked into it, especially if they considered emigration the only option.
Looking at the ops profile, since posting the question, they've not logged back on.... 🤷‍♂️ 

SevenOfNine

Maybe look into choosing where the operation can be done the quickest under NHS https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-choices-in-the-nhs/  If they can emigrate for it, they must be able to travel for it!

Maybe OP should approach PALS. I did that when my husband's annual colonoscopy was several months overdue because of covid backlogs, NHS department kept saying they weren't doing 'routine' investigations.  I asked PALS to tell me how they'd know it was 'routine', if they didn't bother to check.

A week later he had an appointment & it was done the following week, just before Christmas, the most unique 'present' I'd ever got for him but I don't think he appreciated it much!

sheramber

arnoldy said:

Most countries have better health care and outcomes than NHS. I would suggest countries like India - Indian health treatment and standards are truly excellent. You can expect a private room, excellent equipment and clinical standards and nursing care and cleanliness that are much better. 

That would be private health care, not government funded free care.

Would  the OP be bale to emigrate to any country when he is unable to work?

MEM62

UKNeil said:

Hi,

Due to the collapse of the NHS and being nearly 2 years on an NHS waiting list I am looking for suggestions of countries to emigrate to that have good reasonably priced healthcare. Any suggestions welcome. Its hopefully only a minor operation but one that might re-occur. I absolutely love my country and will be devastated to leave it but I can no longer live in a country where i am unable to work due to lack of healthcare.

The grass is not always greener.  I have lived in other countries and speak from experience.  Do your research very carefully before deciding that you want to leave this country and what it offers.  With respect to the NHS, it certainly has its challenges at the moment but it has not 'collapsed' and I cannot agree with your statement that there is a lack of healthcare.  I have on-going, age related, issues and now diabetes and am receive excellent care from the NHS.

You do not give details of your condition but their may be other ways of approaching or managing it.      

Sncjw

It will probably cost alot of moving moving to another country and also waiting for visas when you could maybe get treatment here. Also I know some countries will need a health check too and they can deny you entry if it's going to affectthejr health system 

onomatopoeia99

UKNeil said:

Hi,

Due to the collapse of the NHS and being nearly 2 years on an NHS waiting list I am looking for suggestions of countries to emigrate to that have good reasonably priced healthcare. Any suggestions welcome. Its hopefully only a minor operation but one that might re-occur. I absolutely love my country and will be devastated to leave it but I can no longer live in a country where i am unable to work due to lack of healthcare.

Only one I can think of with no visa requirements is Norway, but only for the island of Svalbard (you will need a Schengen visa or be exempt to get there as transit is through mainland Norway, but once there you can stay as long as you want if you can support yourself).  You will have to pay for healthcare, unlike the UK being ordinarily resident on its own doesn't qualify you for free healthcare.

Since we left the EU you can no longer just decide to emigrate to an EU member country.  Given the income requirements for long stay visas in most European countries (which won't normally immediately qualify you for treatment on the same basis as nationals), you may find paying privately to jump the queue here a more viable option.

bouicca21

Since OP hasn’t been back since the original post, replies are pretty much a waste of time.

UKNeil

Thanks for everyone's replies. Apologies for not logging on sooner (health not been great and my cat died). I paid private treatment for my procedure here in the UK (of which i had 2 whilst waiting for NHS treatment here) and this and being unable to work has exhausted my savings. My mortgage is paid off which is why i am looking to move to another country. The thing is the health problem i have is very difficult to heal and extremely painful. Those commenting here about whinging really should calm down and think before they post. Trust me - if you had the pain i experience you would totally understand.

tightauldgit

UKNeil said:

Thanks for everyone's replies. Apologies for not logging on sooner (health not been great and my cat died). I paid private treatment for my procedure here in the UK (of which i had 2 whilst waiting for NHS treatment here) and this and being unable to work has exhausted my savings. My mortgage is paid off which is why i am looking to move to another country. The thing is the health problem i have is very difficult to heal and extremely painful. Those commenting here about whinging really should calm down and think before they post. Trust me - if you had the pain i experience you would totally understand.

If you've exhausted  your savings then what were you planning to emigrate and live on?

I think people were a bit put out by you suggesting that the NHS was collapsed