03.07.13
Charges to be introduced for foreigners’ use of NHS
So-called ‘health tourists’ could face charges of £200 a year to access NHS services, health secretary Jeremy Hunt is to announce.
Non-EU nationals living in the UK for over six months could be charged on top of visa fees to receive treatment on the NHS. The DH stated that the cost of treating foreign patients is at least £30m a year in England, but the true cost is unknown.
The Government is considering collecting the money centrally, rather than through the NHS, and patients would be charged after treatment. It is also considering scrapping free GP access for foreign patients staying in the UK for less than six months. People with HIV would continue to receive free healthcare if the scheme is introduced.
Hunt said the Government needed to “ensure that those residing or visiting the UK are contributing to the system in the same way as British taxpayers and ensure we do as much as possible to target illegal migration”.
He said: “We have been clear that we are a national health service not an international health service and I am determined to wipe out abuse in the system.”
But Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the RCGP, said: “My first duty is to my patient – I don't ask where they're from or whether they've got a credit card or whether they can pay.”
Labour health spokesman Jamie Reid, told BBC News: “It's absolutely essential that any policy in this regard is based upon facts, it's not based upon perceptions or dog-whistle policies or assumptions which are proven later not to be true.
“But it's absolutely the case that this is our national health service, it's not an international health service, and it should be treated as such.”
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