Joshua Parfitt
A BRITISH expat fears being kicked out of Europe just before his 90th birthday in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
Windrush pensioner and former black cab driver, Basil Moonilall, 89, relies heavily on Spain’s health system after having a throat tumour removed in 2000.
However if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal, Moonilall, based in La Linea, fears he won’t be able to afford private insurance on his €511-per month pension.
“If I don’t get free healthcare, I don’t get to see the doctor,” Moonilall, who only has one vocal cord from cancer, told the Olive Press.
The expat, who worked as a black cab and taxi driver in the UK for 35 years, also fears that if he was forced to return to Britain he could be deported back to Guyana after arriving as part of the Windrush generation in 1958.
“I’m worried that if I leave, I will have to start life all over again,” added the anxious grandfather, who moved to Spain in 1993 to be with his Spanish wife – who sadly passed away two months ago.
The Windrush generation were born British subjects and arrived in the UK before 1973 from the Caribbean, but shockingly in recent years have been refused healthcare or had their citizenship revoked.
Some have even been forced home.
“They were asked to come to the UK to rebuild the country after the war,” Moonilall’s son Raymon, who lives in Gibraltar, told the Olive Press, adding that he is worried his father may be sent back to Guyana.
This despite not visiting since 1958 and where only one of eight siblings is still alive.
“In the draft withdrawal deal we only have until 2020 to enjoy free healthcare, but what happens at the end of those two years?”
Javier Rodriguez, an assessor with the Expat Agency, an expat legal consultancy and services firm, insisted he expected more problems for expats like him in two years.
He told the Olive Press that most private health insurance companies ‘don’t want to cover you’ if you are 65 and over.
He said: “I know many Spanish people who when they reach 70 their insurance companies don’t want to cover them, or make them pay as much as €1,000 per month.”
He added that over-65s could pay into the Spanish social security system, for which the minimum payment is currently €283 per month.
It would mean however that, without any reciprocal agreements between the UK and Spain, in the event of a no deal Brexit, the next best scenario could see Moonilall with only €228 spare capital per month.
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU in just five weeks.
Seek expert advice if he was married to a Spaniard he can seek Spanish nationality and this would change his situation.