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 The 75-year-old is one of tens of thousands of British retirees in
Spain worried that they might lose their free access to Spanish
health care, currently assured by European Union law, as a result of
Britain's exit from the bloc.
"I'd have to go back to the UK, I'd have no choice," Swatridge, who
sold her house in Britain to move to Spain 13 years ago, said after
attending a meeting of pensioners with similar concerns in the
southern coastal town of Mijas.
"I've looked into it," she added.
Britons retiring to Spain are attracted not only by a warm climate
and Mediterranean lifestyle but also by free access to a
well-regarded health system, with London ultimately picking up the
bill by refunding Madrid for their health costs.
It is unclear if that EU-mandated arrangement will continue as the
issue is likely to become tangled in divorce negotiations set to
begin by March. Pensioners meanwhile worry they may have to return
to Britain's stretched health system, another example of unintended
Brexit consequences rippling across Europe.
A return of ailing pensioners to Britain would threaten to further
strain its National Health Service (NHS) where patients can wait for
hours in hospital corridors before they are treated - not an outcome
envisaged by Brexit campaigners.
The Brexit campaign had argued the NHS would benefit from a break
with the EU, saying funds no longer spent abroad on EU projects
could be freed up to boost health funding at home.
Spain is the most popular European retirement destination for
Britons, home to around 300,000. Around a third of them are aged
over 65. Together, Spain and Portugal account for almost a quarter
of all Britons living in Europe, U.N. data shows.
In total, more than 1 million Britons live in Europe, and over 3
million EU citizens in Britain - potential bargaining chips in the
upcoming divorce between London and Brussels.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has pushed for an "early
resolution" to the anxiety facing foreign residents. But EU leaders
have ruled out talks on mutual residence rights until she triggers
the exit process under Article 50 of the EU treaty.
WHO WILL FOOT THE BILL?
Britain is by far the biggest user of Spain's state-funded,
universal health care system amongst foreign nationals, social
security figures show, running up a bill over three times greater
than the next biggest users, the French, last year.
Britons cost Spain 285 million euros ($304 million) in health care
last year, including tourists and pensioners and accounting for
nearly half of Spain's total spend on foreign European Union
nationals.
This dwarves the cost of Spaniards' medical care in Britain of less
than 150,000 euros last year - or just 0.05 percent of Britons' cost
to Spain, according to Spanish social security data. Spaniards
living in Britain tend to be of working age.
Under rules governed by European law, Spain and Britain compensate
each other for their citizens' medical care bills. This more or less
covers costs on an annual basis, Spanish social security figures
from the last nine years show.
A British government spokeswoman said nothing had yet been decided
on the future of reciprocal healthcare arrangements, adding that
Britain remained a full EU member with all the accompanying rights
until exit negotiations were concluded.
"The government is considering the various options that may be
available, and it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in
advance of the negotiating process," she said.
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'THERESA MAY SHOULD COME CLEAN'
Spain will seek an agreement with Britain for it to continue
reimbursing Madrid for the healthcare of Britons, former Foreign
Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo of the ruling People's Party
said in September.
Without such an agreement, pensioners have no guarantee that Spain
will continue to give them free access to health care.
Some could seek Spanish citizenship to secure access to the health
system, transferring the cost of their care to Spain, but only those
with a Spanish spouse or parents, or those who have lived in Spain
for at least 10 years, would be eligible.
Even those who qualified for Spanish citizenship would need to
renounce their UK citizenship, a tough decision for many reasons.
For example, their estates would become subject to Spain's more
prescriptive inheritance laws.
Under Spanish law, foreigners resident in Spain for five years or
more could be eligible for access to state health care regardless of
current EU arrangements, but that too is not certain to be a safety
net for ailing pensioners post-Brexit.
Lawyers advising Britons in Spain say their status has yet to be
determined by exit negotiations, so it is unclear if that provision
would still apply to them after Britain's exit.
Spanish municipalities where retirees spend their cash in shops,
restaurants and golf courses are also eager for a deal to conserve
Britons' access to free health care.
British state pensions cashed in Spain totaled 583 million pounds
($733 million) last year, the highest value globally outside of
Britain, government figures show.
The mayor of Mijas, where more than one in 10 residents are British,
says he is lobbying the EU parliament and Spanish government to
preserve Britons' free access to health.
"These people choose Spain because of the quality of life and this
service is an essential consideration for them when they decide
where to live," said mayor Juan Carlos Maldonado.
Further down the coast from Mijas, at a bar on the seafront in the
neighboring town of Fuengirola, pensioners worry about the future as
they play bingo and take part in a raffle organized by a charity
with prizes of wine and chocolates.
"How long is the uncertainty going to last?" says Jean Baker from
Essex who has lived in Spain for 13 years and uses the health
service for check ups on her heart and blood pressure.
"Theresa May should come clean and tell us - she's making it too
hard for people to know what they're going to do."
($1 = 0.7891 pounds)
($1 = 0.9372 euros)
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Adela Suliman in
London; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
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