A British man settled in Italy who has a rare cancer has been unable to get the free healthcare he is entitled to because local officials do not understand the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Graham Beresford, 61, has signed up for his first major meeting with European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels just days before Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who triggered the Brexit referendum, -Brexit relations expressed.
Under the Withdrawal Agreement, Beresford should be entitled to the same access to healthcare as an Italian pensioner, but he has been repeatedly told this is incorrect and has faced demands of €2,000 (£1,700) for an Italian health card.
Campaigners say Beresford is one of hundreds of Britons in this situation.
“Brexit is the cause of this. Brexit is an absolute disaster, an act of self-harm of the worst kind, for absolutely nothing. I don’t know why anyone voted for it,” says Beresford, who, despite years of trying, cannot convince local authorities that he is entitled to healthcare under the Brexit deal.
Beresford managed energy for the city council in Glasgow but took early retirement and moved to Italy in January 2019 to realize his retirement dream before the Brexit drawbridge in January 2021, which ended free movement.
Initially he relied on savings, but when he turned 60 he had a pension of around €10,000 per year.
Local authorities have told him that the Withdrawal Agreement only gives health rights to British nationals who stayed in the country for a full five years before the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020.
Attempts to convince the authorities that they are making a mistake have been futile.
Cameron’s meetings with Šefčovič on Thursday – as part of the EU-UK Joint Committee and the EU-UK Partnership Council – are his first official take stock of Brexit, and come eight years after he resigned over the referendum result.
One will focus on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which will cover cooperation on energy, fisheries and post-pandemic healthcare. are discussed, and the other on the Withdrawal Agreement covering citizens’ rights and an update on Northern Ireland’s Windsor Framework the agenda.
In February, the campaign group Brexpats – Hear Our Voice managed to get the Italian Ministry of Health to distribute a two-page letter to local authorities confirming that Britons who were in Italy before Brexit had the right to register for free at the Sistema Sanitorio Nazionale, Italy’s version of the NHS.
This is also referred to on the British government’s Living in Italy page.
When Beresford took a copy of the minister’s letter to the local authority, he was still met with resistance. “She told me we needed further clarification,” he said, and they refused to give him his health card.
“Cameron needs to fund the embassy to employ someone who can help British citizens with Brexit issues,” Beresford said. “Brexit was not enacted all at once by Britain, but was implemented in a transitional manner, so it stands to reason that citizens will be temporarily affected by each new law that is implemented.”
Campaigners in Italy wrote to Cameron about the issue in January but received no response.
Beresford, who is taking chemotherapy drugs, said, “I just want to be able to get health care without having to worry from week to week whether or not we’re going to get a prescription.”
Clarissa Killwick of Brexpats – Hear Our Voice said Beresford’s case “highlights how extremely vulnerable some people are”, especially due to the lack of “joint communication”, which she said was a clear breach of Article 37 of the Withdrawal Agreement.
She added: “The UK Government funding for specific assistance to people like Graham stopped in 2021 and, unlike in Britain, there is no independent oversight of the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. It is easy for 1.3 million people to become invisible when they are spread across more than 27 countries.
“To have any hope of everything functioning properly, information must be timely, unambiguous and easily accessible.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Access to healthcare for British nationals living abroad under the Withdrawal Agreement between Britain and the EU is a top priority for Britain.
“We urge the Italian authorities to provide clarity for those experiencing difficulties accessing healthcare services or where there is confusion over eligibility, and to support affected individuals.”