I've had an idea

If UK residents who qualify for NHS treatment were issued with a health card which they showed as a matter of course when accessing any services it would be easy to spot those not eligible - EU visitors would have an EHIC card - all others pay up at the time and send paperwork/receipts issued to their travel insurers when they get home.

I can't understand why we have not been doing this going back years,
Other countries do it as a matter of course! We really are the most daft country at not charging.

It's common sense but how many admin , management and IT staff would they employ to administer it? Too many I expect, thus wiping out any monetary gain.

If other countries do it ( and they do) then they must make money!

Yes roses but this country needs to lose the top managers who get paid silly money for doing not a lot and concentrate on getting the job done efficiently and economically.

I guess the point is that other countries are set up to charge? OH had minor surgery here in France recently and everything was charged. Most of it was taken directly from our "carte vitale" but some tests had to be paid for and the money reclaimed. The cost of a private room (42€) will be reclaimed from our top-up insurers.
We had to take an American visitor to casualty once and the hospital sent a bill which was paid by her insurers.
The system has to know how much everything costs in the first place though!

Agreed mamie so we must get set up for it too.

mamie I'm having a lightbulb moment. It is set up to charge here too:

My BIL just had unplanned treatment here (on holiday from Dubai) and because he had travel insurance - "went private".

So why don't all people in similar circumstances do that?

Logic would suggest, because "the NHS is free".

It seems to me that the "free for everyone at the point of need" shouldn't apply to visitors who have travel insurance.

The world has changed around the NHS (when it was implemented people weren't flying into the country in their droves complete with travel insurance), but the way the system is offered has not. So there's an obvious mismatch right there.

Would the private system be able to cope with the A and E type emergency that some visitors might have though? For example, our American visitor who tripped and broke a limb.

What about making it all "private" and using your NHS number as payment? It would then be free to those who are entitled.

I would be willing to pay ( if the charge was reasonable )to see a GP at a time to suit me for example.

I don't fancy a scenario where you are being rushed in with a heart attack and the clerk is hassling you for insurance details though.

I broke my ankle in Dubai and had to pay for the treatment which was excellent. I expected to pay and I think that is the difference, people come here and expect it to be free.

We should simply talk to all our EU partners and find out how they charge non-EU people and do the same.

A few years ago I took a Japanese girl to A & E locally and at no point was there any mention of a charge. I would have thought that it was obvious she wasn't British.

We carry card with a photo for our health Insurance, which we produce every quarter at our GP in Germany, and then He/She is our doctor. The whole set up is for payment which means there is a 3 year training or apprenticeship to become a doctor's assistant able to deal with financial and medical affairs.
I find with American guests that the GPs here are not against dealing with them wihout payment, if it is only small complaint or a child being sick.
If its serious and they need a specialist then they are surprised at how little the specialist charges, compared to the sums charged in the US for private treatment.
Jeremy Hunt is not going to change the system unless he invests in proper training for staff involved with patients and lets a lot of these managers go.

I was taken ill in America and was taken as an emergency to a hospital. I did have medical insurance.

I was issued with a bracelet which had a bar code on it. Every time anything was done, even taking my temperature, the bar code was scanned.

Should be able to do the same here, every other country is geared to collecting money for treatment.
I needed to see a Doctor in France and I had to put the 42 Euros on the desk before he would even speak to me. I think I paid a further 8 Euros for a single dose of antibiotic.

Well, for a start, if you need a visa to come here, you DONT get the visa if you don't have medical cover.
We had to have medical insurance as part of getting our visa for China.

It should be made very clear to any none EU visitors that they will need proper health insurance when visiting the UK. I have an EHIC card and I would not venture to non EU countries without it however that is for emergency use only and I had to pay for extra insurance for prexisting conditions when visiting Europe.

I think that in the past that UK hospitals have not had good enough clerical input to work at managing passing charges onto other EU countries and private health insurance companies.

Like Pittcity I wonder whether the costs of setting up such repayment systems would balance the amount of money we would get back.

MargaretX I expect USA doctors charge what they like because they might be in league with the insurance companies who set what rates they like. They have £££s or $$$ signs in their eyes.

They need a couple of teenagers to set up an international computer system to cover everyone and every eventuality.

mamie that's a good point, I think what would happen is that people would go to NHS A&E as usual, in other words there would be no "private system" for A&E. But then there would have to be a system for those who are paying e.g. a card being swiped.

I agree it's not very nice being asked whether you have insurance in a crisis, but if you do have it, then it's not a problem (e.g. you'd carry an insurance or membership card). If you don't have it, then you'd be entitled to free healthcare (otherwise your visa requirements would have seen to it that you did have medical cover).

We have got used to presenting our card here at every appointment, anyway. It is a bit bizarre in that at GPs you pass over your card and 23€ which you get reimbursed later and elsewhere they just take the card, but you don't expect anything to be simple in French bureaucracy. OH had to turn up 15 minutes before each appointment to get through the hospital paperwork but then waltzed straight in to the consultant without waiting.
The health service you get is excellent which is the main thing.

Indeed.

nhap.org/jeremy-hunt-is-determined-to-alienate-the-entire-nhs-staff-by-re-introducing-this-already-controversial-policy-to-limit-healthcare-to-migrants/

I agree with this.

I've had a better idea. Do not replace Trident, and we can save the NHS, pay tax credits, or get rid of them by having a better minimum income guarantee, get rid of food banks, etc.