Britain – Welfare

 The passage below is adapted from a magazine article that was published in September 2006. Fill in the gaps in this text with words and phrases from the list below.

operations undue delay European Court ofjustice health tourists (use twice)

infections National Health Service treatment (use three times)

Whereas five years ago, they would have preferred France, Germany, or Switzerland, Belgium has recently become the overwhelming favourite of British Despite spending millions of extrapounds, the British government has failed to restore full confidence in its (NHS)and more people are opting to go abroad for treatment.Why Belgium? The main reason is probably speed. for which patients would haveto wait half a year in Britain can be booked and performed within a couple of weeks. And that's not all.Hospital-acquired infections are much rarer than they are in Britain, and patients encounterfewer language problems than in the other countries mentioned above. is also considerably cheaper than in Britain. Of course, for British people it's moreexpensive than freeon the NHS, but a person who has just been told that their'urgent' case will have to wait six months does not have the cost uppermost in their mind. Moreover,there is a possibility they can get their money back later. The recently ruled thatpatients have a right to reimbursement for abroad when they face 'undue delay'at home. The precise definition of' 'is not yet clear. But if it turns out to includethe full range of treatments which are regarded as both urgent and routine, Belgium can expect tens of thousands more British in the next few years.