Brexit Impact on Healthcare in UK

The debate on the impact of Brexit on UK healthcare has continued to gain attention from various groups and individuals. In the United Kingdom, some of the sectors that have a large percentage of contribution to the economy include those in healthcare such as pharmaceutical companies. The European Union has provided the UK with an opportunity to enlarge its market size and earn returns from the healthcare industry. Exiting the union will imply that a reduction in sales, for example, might go down for the pharmaceutical companies and this will directly affect the country's economy. Researchers have stated that Brexit will lead to a reduced GDP for the UK and this may result in a great recession. Despite the claims made by the United Kingdom Independent Party, that funds channeled to EU will be used to fund the healthcare sector, the government will have to intervene to ensure that the sector remains stable and effective in growing the nation's economy.

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BREXIT IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE IN UK
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BREXIT IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE IN UK
The debate on the impact of Brexit on UK healthcare has continued to gain attention from
various groups and individuals. In the United Kingdom, some of the sectors that have a large
percentage of contribution to the economy include those in healthcare such as pharmaceutical
companies. The European Union has provided the UK with an opportunity to enlarge its market
size and earn returns from the healthcare industry. Exiting the union will imply that a reduction
in sales, for example, might go down for the pharmaceutical companies and this will directly
affect the country's economy. Researchers have stated that Brexit will lead to a reduced GDP for
the UK and this may result in a great recession. Despite the claims made by the United Kingdom
Independent Party, that funds channeled to EU will be used to fund the healthcare sector, the
government will have to intervene to ensure that the sector remains stable and effective in
growing the nation's economy.
According to the UK's National Health Service, (NHS), the country will have a shortage
of approximately16, 000 primary care physicians by 2020 and a shortage of more than 100,000
nurses by 2022. UK has in the past managed to close the gap through recruiting nurses and
doctors from foreign countries and mostly those members of the EU. Brexit will bring to an end
the guarantee of long term contracts for care providers from the various EU countries (Coyle,
2016, p. 27). The UK government will have to intervene by applying strategies that will
overcome the challenge and enhance the stability of the healthcare sector. Since withdrawal from
EU will affect companies in the healthcare sector including the pharmaceutical corporations and
the service delivery sector in healthcare facilities, the government will have to focus on ways of
ensuring that the effect does not go a long way to affect the overall economic power of the
nation. UK will also not have a chance to enjoy health benefits for its citizens in other EU

Brexit impact on healthcare in UK 3
countries a reason why the government will have to plan the various strategies that will create
economic and healthcare stability.
The government will intervene through the application of the fiscal policy to ensure that
there is adequate financing in the health sector thus overcoming the challenges associated with
Brexit. Application of this policy will aim at monitoring the government expenditure and its
composition in the country. This will then have an effect on the tax policies that the UK
government will adapt to ensure that there is adequate funding for the healthcare sector. Despite
the fact that the UK government would want to deny that Brexit will have major effects on the
health sector and the economy in general, there is a high probability that the country will go
through a recession where a fall in GDP will take place affecting almost every sector (Fahy et al.
2017, p. 2117). The most important sectors that remain a major concern to the citizens include
health and social care. An increase in taxes will have both benefits and drawbacks to the UK
citizens and corporations.
The benefits of using taxation as a government intervention measure to fight against
negative impacts associated with Brexit will include;
 An increase in taxes will increase government revenue- The UK government will have an
opportunity to increase its revenue and through reduced expenditure, it will channel the
funds acquired to the healthcare sector especially in the hospitals (Whyman and Petrescu
2017, p. 121). The government will have adequate funds to hire nurses and doctors from
other countries without relying on EU agreements.
 Enhance distribution of revenue across sectors- The taxation policy will have to require
the government to make a decision on the sectors to tax and on which sectors to spend.

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The policy may have more impact in some sectors where the government will have more
taxes to the corporations. The wealthy sectors, for instance, might become the targets for
taxation so that they can share their revenue with other sectors including healthcare
(Gros, 2016, p. 201). The government will also have to make a decision on the sectors
where it will channel revenues to avoid deficits that may eventually lead to the fall of the
nation's economy.
 Regulate government spending- The UK government will have to make a decision on
how to spend revenue earned over a given period. The tax policy will have an impact on
the economy and this will require the government to enhance proper planning on how to
spend based on priority (Sampson 2017, p. 103). The highly affected sector being
healthcare will require more funding thus requiring the government to regulate how it
spends its revenue on other activities.
Despite the benefits associated with the taxation policy, many drawbacks will result and
the UK government will have to consider them as well when making the intervention strategy to
overcome the effects of Brexit. These disadvantages include;
 A slowdown in business operations- When the UK government increases taxes, it will
pull funds from the economy and many companies will struggle to meet the number of
expenses. In the case where the government will decide to target some sectors and
commodities as well as investments, the business operations involved will slow down.
Taxes will increase the costs of performing business operations and this may have a long
term effect on how corporations operate (Mankiw and Taylor 2011, p.176). Most of the
governments use the fiscal policy when there is a need to stimulate the economy. The UK

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government will focus on acquiring revenue that will facilitate the effectiveness of the
health sector and this will only take place through an increase in taxes. Some businesses
may not survive through high taxes a reason why slowing down will occur affecting most
organizations.
 Reduced savings- An increase in taxes will imply that individuals and corporations will
spend more towards succeeding in their daily operations. When the UK government
increases taxes, companies will make fewer profits and this may affect their future
growth. Individuals will also spend more due to the high prices of products and services a
reason why they will have less to save (Begg, Vernasca, Fischer and Dornbusch 2014, p.
143). The government might have saved the health sector but will also have affected
people's lives and other sectors of the economy that contribute to overall economic
growth. Some companies may also opt for fewer workers leading to layoffs that will
increase instances of unemployment. In other firms, employees might have salary and
wages cuts to ensure that business operations will still run smoothly.
The drawbacks associated with high taxes in the United Kingdom will not only affect
companies but also the citizens. Organizations may not manage to operate effectively and due to
lack of adequate finances, they may engage in producing low-quality goods and services. With
lost jobs, citizens will not have an income which they can use to pay their bills and rent which
may render them homeless (Kazzazi et al. 2017, p. 32). High taxes may enable the UK
government to save the health sector but may increase poverty among citizens, unemployment
and an increase in crime rates. As a way of enhancing success in the application of higher taxes,
the UK government will have to ensure that there is a balance in every sector to avoid a collapse

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in any of them. The UK government will also have to ensure that tax policies do not go hand in
hand with increased government spending which may lead to no benefits for the health sector.
The United Kingdom's decision to withdraw from the European Union will give room for
many challenges that will affect the health sector and the economy of the country. Based on the
opportunities provided by the EU platform, the UK health sector has grown and become superior
in the world. Exiting will imply that the opportunities will not be available and the most affected
departments will include the organizations dealing with pharmaceuticals and the healthcare
facilities. Inadequate labor will be witnessed in the nation and this will affect the way in which
the country will handle health in future (Song 2016, p.254). Post- Brexit will make the UK not an
attractive destination for research and manufacturing in the healthcare sector. UK will also have
to make a decision on whether to remain in some of the unions including EAA that have
impacted heavily on the success of the country in providing healthcare products and services.
Withdrawal of benefits acquired from the EU will require the government to find ways of
gathering funds that will support operations in the sector without leaving gaps that may create
inefficiencies. The use of taxation policy and reduced government spending may sound the best
strategy to apply in solving the problem facing the UK after Brexit but the government will also
have to consider the benefits and drawbacks associated with the fiscal policy and its impact on
economic efficiency.

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References
Begg, D., Vernasca, G., Fischer, S., and Dornbusch, R. (2014). Economics. 11th edn. Berkshire:
McGraw-Hill Education
Coyle, D., 2016. Brexit and globalisation. Brexit Beckons: Thinking ahead by leading
economists, pp.23-39.
Fahy, N., Hervey, T., Greer, S., Jarman, H., Stuckler, D., Galsworthy, M. and McKee, M., 2019.
How will Brexit affect health services in the UK? An updated evaluation. The Lancet.
Fahy, N., Hervey, T., Greer, S., Jarman, H., Stuckler, D., Galsworthy, M. and McKee, M., 2017.
How will Brexit affect health and health services in the UK? Evaluating three possible
scenarios. The Lancet, 390(10107), pp.2110-2118.
Gros, D. 2016. The Economics of Brexit: It′s Not about the Internal Market. CEPS.
Kazzazi, F., Pollard, C., Tern, P., Ayuso-Garcia, A., Gillespie, J. and Thomsen, I., 2017.
Evaluating the impact of Brexit on the pharmaceutical industry. Journal of
pharmaceutical policy and practice, 10(1), p.32.
Mankiw, N. G. and Taylor, P. M. 2011. Economics. 2nd edn. Hampshire: Cengage Learning In
addition you may wish to consider: General overview and background of Brexit
Sampson, T. 2017. Brexit: the economics of international disintegration. Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 31(4), 163-84.
Song, C.H., 2016. Understanding the aftermath of Brexit: implications for the pharmaceutical
industry. Pharmaceutical Medicine, 30(5), pp.253-256.

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Whyman, P. B., & Petrescu, A. I. 2017. The economics of Brexit: A cost-benefit analysis of the
UK’s economic relationship with the EU. Springer.