Healthcare Availability for Disabled

Hi:  I am hoping to get to the UK in the not-too-distant future but I need to know what one does about healthcare in that country.  I have panhypopituitarism plus some other health concerns and have been on disability for a year here in the US.  Here I am covered by Medicare as my primary insurer and by Tricare as secondary - my husband is my sponsor for this as a retired Navy pilot.  Someone told me that Medicare and Tricare were not accepted in the UK and that one has to pay for one's medical care in cash.  I need to find out if this is true as I must take a lot of medication and some of it is quite expensive.  In addition, I have to have all endocrine hormones tested at least a couple times a year.  I would appreciate anyone who can give me advice on these issues.

Kathryn F.

Are you coming to the UK to live long term or are you coming as a tourist?  Your ability to have coverage through the NHS would be based upon upon your entry status (ie, tourist, fiancé, spouse, work permit, etc).

Unless you come to the Uk on a settlement visa (ie, have blood relative here or married to a British person) you will not be eligible for NHS.  Work visas require you to have private insurance or pay out of pocket.  

Thanks very much for the info.  I'll be visiting as a tourist at first.  I will be doing some research for a book I'm working on so I have to find out how long I will be allowed to stay as a tourist.  I do have relatives in the UK but they are distant cousins so I don't know if that would qualify me to have a different status.  

I don't know if this helps you or not, but my husband is here on a work permit and I am a dependent spouse (from the US) and we were accepted into the NHS--no questions asked.  They didn't ask to see passports, visas, work permit, National Insurance proof or anything.  I called the surgery and told them our circumstances and they told us to come on down to register.

I was taking a long-term medication in the US and the doctor simply took my word for it and wrote a prescription for me here.  (the medication happens to be somewhat cheap.)  The one things they wouldn't do is give me my brand of birth control.  If I wanted birth control they offered something besides Yasmin since it is expensive here...or I could pay out of pocket for it.  

You may want to check about being reimbursed by your US insurer.  I know my private cover in the US covers Out-of-Network, including in the UK.  Should I need to see a private doctor for something that is not covered by my private medical here I know I have that as back-up.  The downside is that I have to pay out of pocket and then fight with the insurance company to reimburse me for it.

Lastly, to see a private doctor here in the UK you must be referred by your NHS GP.  I don't know what happens when you aren't eligible for NHS coverage.

If you have any questions i can surely try to answer them for you.  If I don't know the answer, I can help you find out who can answer it.

Tracey

Thanks so much for your help.  I've bought several books from Amazon.com that are about going to the UK and what that entails.  So far, there are few details re health care or insurance questions, but I just keep on reading in hopes that sooner or later I'll come across the whole story.  If I didn't have such a rare disorder, I wouldn't bother with the whole insurance issue, but I have to have access to medical care in the event of adrenal failure.  My family thinks I'm pigheaded to want to continue doing the things I love to do, when I (according to them) should be staying at home being an invalid.  To me, that's like living death so I push on.