Emran Habib on "Your Local Surgery to become New UKBA"!? : If non EU workers or students are based in the UK for at least 6 months, they could face being charged £200 a year for use of the NHS ! Under new Government plans, the Prime Minister is attempting to confront the so-called health tourism. He has commented saying, “What we have is a free national health service, not a free international health service”. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is of the same mind, believing charging foreigners to use the NHS is reasonable due to the present cost they pose to the taxpayer. Hunt said: “Hard-working British families pay their taxes for the NHS and we think that people coming from overseas should make some contribution as well. At the moment we don’t track properly who should be paying and who shouldn’t and the result is it is costing British taxpayers a lot of money.” Short term visitors will also have to pay to see a G.P while emergency cases and those with infectious diseases will be exempt from the regulations. While government officials are defending the new plans by pointing out that British people are forced to pay for medical care when visiting countries such as America or Australia, many are branding the reform a political gimmick and consider the issue of health tourism a myth. The chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Clare Gerada, warned that “GPs must not be a new ‘border agency’ in policing access to the NHS. While the health system must not be abused and we must bring an end to health tourism, it is important that we do not overestimate the problem and that GPs are not placed in the invidious position of being the new border agency”. The question has been raised whether these new rules will put both foreign migrants and British citizens at risk. If foreigners, who currently enjoy full access to primary care and accident and emergency, refuse to pay the levy then infections could become much wider spread and easier to catch. The government must ensure that tackling the supposed health tourism will not create worse outcomes with further, bigger payments for our national health service...
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:54:49 +0000
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