Now here is an interesting question for you. But first a bit of a background. The European Union, EEC and other great and good European institutions are based around the idea that there is an European identity.
Within that, people and other "bits" are fungible (more or less). So a Spaniard can come work in London, while a Brit can go purchase a flat in Athens, while a Norwegian can setup a company in Italy. And so it works by and large. There are many exclusions and limitations such as Romanian workers not allowed to work in England for a long time or Spanish professional degrees not recognised in the UK etc. etc.
But now here is an interesting proposal from the EC. If you are a Brit who is unable to find good dental care in England, you would be able to nip over to France and get your teeth fixed rather than go through the nice challenge of pulling them out with a pair of pliers. So if you were entitled to treatment in England but were not able to get it due to very long waiting times, then you can go anywhere else. What England then has to do is to reimburse France for the cost of the dental services.
You can guess the challenge. Where healthcare is rationed such as in the UK, you will have a flood of people nipping across the channel to get healthcare, just like they do to get cheap ciggies and drinks from France.
But unlike the drinks/fags issue, the British Chancellor would not mind as the cost of British Healthcare is now being met by the French Taxpayer, and secondly at a much cheaper price as the cost per medical issue is much lower and stingy in the UK compared to France.
And given the fact that generally the median age of Europeans is moving inexorably upwards, the need for medical services is going to rise, rationing is going to become more and more, cost of medicines is going to rise and people are going to shop around for medical care more and more!
this promises to be a very interesting situation going forward. Watch the fireworks!
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