By Vivienne Russell | 22 October 2013
The NHS in England could recoup up to £500m each year by charging migrants and foreign visitors for using its services, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said today.
Publishing the first study of how widely migrants use the NHS, Hunt said it ‘cannot be right’ that large amounts of UK taxpayers’ money was lost treating people from foreign countries.
The study estimates that £388m is spent each year on patients who find themselves in need of health care while in England. Although this group should pay for the care they receive from the NHS, the service currently only covers around 16% of costs.
In addition, health tourism – people who deliberately travel to England to receive treatment – costs the NHS between £70m and £300m a year.
Hunt said: ‘Having a universal health service free at the point of use rightly makes us the envy of the world, but we must make sure the system is fair to the hardworking British taxpayers who fund it.
‘We have one of the most generous systems in the world when it comes to health care for foreign visitors, but it’s time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service – not an international one.’
The government said it was taking a range of measures to deter abuse of the NHS by migrants and foreign visitors.
These include: a health surcharge in the recent Immigration Bill, which is estimated to generate £200m; the establishment of a cost recovery unit to develop a more efficient system of claiming costs back; and incentives for hospitals to report that they have treated someone from the European Economic Area so the government can recover costs from their home country.
Taken together, the £388m in reclaimed costs from foreign nationals in England, the £200m from the migrant surcharge and the deterrent effect on the £70-£300m lost to health tourists would together raise or save well over half a billion pounds, the Department of Health said.
In addition, Sir Keith Pearson has been appointed as the government’s independent adviser on visitor and migrant cost recovery. He will ensure that new charging rules are effective.
Pearson is currently chair of Health Education England and previously chaired NHS East of England and the NHS Confederation.
Responding to his appointment, he said: ‘The NHS has a statutory duty to ensure that any money owed by overseas visitors is returned to the system but many are clearly failing in this duty.
‘We know that the first duty of health professionals is to treat the individual patient in front of them but they also have a responsibility to protect the NHS for the future and ensure best use of its resources.’