NHS Fees for migrants

Usually the NHS will claim it back. If they took details of the insurance they will have done so. When I have ever been in an A&E waiting room I hear the receptionists asking for proof of entitlement to access NHS and giving forms for those who do not have . NHS emergency treatment is free at the point of access but funding is claimed back from those not entitled to NHS services. I also know this as I have several 'foreign' relatives who, over the years, have needed NHs emergency treatment whilst on holiday.

One of our friends was taken ill in Singapore while visiting his daughter. He was in hospital for just under a week and fortunately had travel insurance as his bill ran into thousands. The care was wonderful but he nearly had a relapse when he saw what his insurnce were paying out!
I have no problem with expecting visitors to pay for medical treatment in this country but worry that the prospect of expense might mean some people walking around with conditions - possibly highly infectious - which should have medical attention but which they cannot afford to pay for.

If they are visitors they should be required to have travel insurance like the rest of us and if they have highly infectious diseases they shouldn't be here, should they?

My daughter lives in Luxembourg and everyone there carries a card to say they are entitled to health care. You pay for this health care when you have it and then, if you are entitled to it, it is refunded back to you.

Why can't we have the same sort of system. We could have a card that states we have paid national insurance contributions and therefore do not need to pay, but if you don't have this, then you have to pay for the service.

I know people will say 'what about an emergency' but my other daughter took her sick child to the clinic in Luxembourg and had to pay then and there for the treatment. She claimed in back on her return to the UK.

It's easy to say they "should" have travel insurance - but quite unenforceable and an infectious disease may well have an incubation period during which whoever has arrived in this country unaware they are ill. Even simple flu can take days to develop.

Quite right Grace we can't have these foreigners walking round spreading disease and mayhem. I think they should all go into quarantine for x number of days. Not at the tax payers expense though

Works with a card here in France too - most medical places are equipped with a card reading machine so when you go to see the GP you pay your 23 € and then the amount you are entitled to back is credited to your bank. The CPAM (French Health Care) have your top up insurance linked to your Carte Vitale and they automatically tell them how much extra to reimburse you too. With the chemist the CV and insurance are also linked and we pay nothing as all done automatically. Hospitals etc also ask for your details and bill the appropriate places and if anything is not covered you receive a bill. You also get the results of any tests given to you - X-rays or scans you are handed when you leave the clinic concerned and all blood tests results come to you from the laboratory. The doctor who asked for the tests is sent your tests by email and here our GP telephones us if medication needs to be changed - he phones any time up to about 10pm depending on when he is finished at his surgery.
It would be a simple enough thing once set up to issue everyone with a photo card and medical centres etc with readers and no card would mean you had to pay there and then. It would cost money to set up but after that should take care of Health tourists.

Bez It would appear that it's the same system (or similar) in Luxembourg and it works there. When my daughter had her children, she had a private room and only had to pay something like 60 Euros for this extra luxury. She gets appointment with doctors almost immediately and the results of tests immediately.

Non EU residents need visas to enter this (and other) countries so why can't we make it part of that application that they show valid health insurance? Seems logical to me...I accept the incubation point.

Aka I assume you are attempting to be ironic. At no point have I inveighed against "foreigners" spreading disease about, it was a valid point expressed by a spokesman for the NHS or BMA when the debate was first brought up on, I think You and Yours or PM or suchlike.
So kindly DON'T start putting xenophobic sentiments in my mouth or do a "*Frank*" in an attempt to make it sound as if these were my views.
Realistically, there is always more than one side to health in the community - the welfare of the individual and the welfare of the population at large. Wehave already had this debate on the subject of vaccination. It is in the interests of neither someone who may be ill OR the community to risk that person failing to seek medical treatment on the grounds that they cannot afford it. So keep your wacky ideas about travellers to the UK having to complete a quarantine period where they belong , in the realms of Fawlty-esque fantasy.

nanaej

The person on the reception did not even look at the policy.
My friend had 4 forms in the policy book and they were supposed to tear one out and send it through to the insurance company so the bill could be settled direct.
My friend gave his address in Singapore so they could not say he was being fraudulent.
He did inform the insurance company in case anything arose afterwards but he never heard anything.
The accident did happen in the UK so you can not say he was a health tourist.
The hospital never asked for any ID so in theory he could have given a false address.

Frank

I interpreted Aka's post as agreeing with you, gracesmum, and disagreeing with mollie's opinion that foreign visitors with infectious diseases shouldn't be here...

I am afraid, given the NIMBY tone of "these foreigners spreading disease and mayhem", I took it as taking the proverbial - especially the comment (which I thought totally unrealistic) about a quarantine period. Seriously -not everybody who is not a UK citizen is a migrant - tourists, business travellers, political visits, students studying in the UK to name but a few categories.

I don't think Aka was being serious!

But I'm sure she can defend herself so I'll shut up.

and if a person has an accident in UK and needs emergency treatment, or has a heart attack and is a non UK citizen without insurance shall we let them die?
I agree that we cannot fund healthcare for all citizens of the world and if people travel here deliberately to have treatment then the system needs to close the gap, but I hope we never become like US and demand proof of ability to pay before treatment.

I know a number of young white Sth African couples who have come to England to have babies in NHS hospitals and then emigrated to Australia. Do you have to pay for mat care in Oz??

Grace of course I wasn't being serious.
Yes, I can defend myself, but I was actually agreeing with you.

For citizens of the EU, presumably the EHIC works in an emergency in A&E. I know it's necessary to have insurance for treatment in a private clinic.

It is not unreasonable to get travelers to have health insurance cards and present them in the UK. I am sure sensible system for that could be worked out.
Does anyone actually know what proportion of visitors do not get charged for treatment that is not urgent?

If you are worried about infectious diseases some important advice.

If you go abroad make sure you go into quarantine for 6weeks to ensure you are not taking British bugs to countries with no immunity to them.

Do not travel abroad anywhere! Do not travel by plane. Do not go out to work. Do not go out of your own front door.
Bugs and virus are every where waiting to make you ill.
We are just waiting for the next major epidemic in the UK, and we are likely get what ever it will be.

Isn't there a new strain of avian flu on the up? I read China or Vietnam had it recently. Hmm...going to Vietnam next year.

I've never quite undertood what my holiday insurance covers me for. Not that I'd do it myself but I was always worried about my kids going out on these banana boats in case they had an accident and weren't covered. I find with most kinds of insurance you're always covered till something happens and then you're not.

stansgran i think it has all gone quiet for now, but much worry about it crossing to humans at some stage. But this comes into the category of b****er all we can do about it. Just don't snog any birds while you out there.
You're covered for whatever it says in the policy tegan usually medical care while out there, ship you home dead or alive if you need it. Will not cover you for existing conditions and that is where they will quibble if you make a claim, so I pay a dollop more on my annual insurance because of BP meds. Even though i only go to NZ and AUs, which have reciprocal agreements, I would not be covered if i had a stroke or heart attack in a transit airport - unless i had told them about the BP
Within EU you can get an EU document that allows you to claim treatment under the local systems as per the locals.
I was once refused a claim on travel insurance when my mother died when I was abroad because it was "an existing condition".

Life is an existing condition - and terminal.

I got stung with a hefty excess amount for european travel last year as I was getting treatment for osteoporosis. My bone density is just on the wrong side of the normal range. I have never broken anything before, but if I had done so now and not mentioned I was aware of the condition I would have been stung for all costs.