Here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... hase_3.PDF
on page 18 they talk about recovering cost of treatment from EEA patients who are "non-resident in the UK"
It also talks about changing definition of "ordinary resident" for non-EEA citizens, for NHS purpose, to be those who are "not subject to immigration control" (i.e., have indefinite leave to remain). But EEA members (and dependents) are not subject to immigration control, even if they do not have PR, but are on 5-years EEA1/EEA2 status.
Here it is (p. 68):
"The Immigration Act 2014 changes the meaning of OR in respect of non-EEA nationals subject to immigration control will not be able to be classed as ordinarily resident unless they have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, i.e. they are also a permanent resident of the UK. The new definition is expected to commence in early 2015/16."
On page 33 (p. 146/147) they also seem to distinguish between EEA-migrants and non EEA-migrants.
Here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... tation.pdf
They say (page 25, p.104)
"We need to improve the system so that we are better at identifying those EEA nationals who are not ordinarily resident in the UK and who do not have other rights of equal access to our healthcare system (such as workers and their family members)."
So it looks like a EEA nationals who are residents in UK (for example, who works here) are not affected, even if they were here for less then 5 years.
Still, I find this new regulation shocking (with respect to temporary migrants, not visitors). In particular, typical temporary worker pays NHS contributions from income, and some of them are highly paid and contribute a lot. And they still want to exclude them? In that case any common sense would dedicate that they should not pay NHS tax!
