Treatment of long-term UK residents in EU after Brexit if no deal

Just been reading the EU preparedness statement for Brexit issued yesterday and they are recommending all EU states treat British long-term EU residents (assume over 5 years) in the same way as non-EU long term residents. They are also urging EU countries to accept application for this status BEFORE Brexit day. The interesting side to this is that the non-EU permesso di soggiorno allows onward free movement within the EU and almost equal treatment with EU nationals. This is in the event of no deal. I feel quite reassured by this. An important date will be 27th November when the EU 27 member states discuss preparedness of citizens rights and recognition of qualifications. However, in the event of a NO DEAL there will be no social security exchange between the EU and the UK so this will affect pensioners who get their health cover paid for by the UK. I thought I had read somewhere that Blair had signed a bilateral agreement on this subject with Italy but I have never been able to find it since.