200 £million NHS black hole foreign health tourists

PamelaJ1

I think because we run our health service on a free to user basis there isn’t really any provision for charging those who are not entitled to use it.
I did watch a television programme about how hard it is for hospitals to get the unentitled to pay up. I’m not sure it was the same programme that Primrose alluded to because I’m sure it was more than 5 years ago but I may be wrong.
I spend quite a bit of time in Australia, visiting my DD,however although we have a reciprocal arrangement with them, I always have travel insurance. I may be taken ill in the airport in HK for instance whilst changing planes or having a stopover.
If you can afford to fly then you should be able to afford the insurance. It should be mandatory. Without it entrance to the country should be denied.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I think because we run our health service on a free to user basis there isn’t really any provision for charging those who are not entitled to use it.
I did watch a television programme about how hard it is for hospitals to get the unentitled to pay up. I’m not sure it was the same programme that Primrose alluded to because I’m sure it was more than 5 years ago but I may be wrong.
I spend quite a bit of time in Australia, visiting my DD,however although we have a reciprocal arrangement with them, I always have travel insurance. I may be taken ill in the airport in HK for instance whilst changing planes or having a stopover.
If you can afford to fly then you should be able to afford the insurance. It should be mandatory. Without it entrance to the country should be denied.

Sorry - this link:

www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-reciprocal-healthcare-agreements-with-non-eu-countries

Oreo

Casdon

I feel like a loop system is developing here. To repeat, again, the NHS does recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors. The system is not perfect, to make it so would require armies of administration staff which would cost more than the amount lost to replicate in every hospital. Successive governments have wrestled with this issue. Why on earth do you not check the facts?

Other hospitals seem to manage it in other countries.I would be very surprised if Germany and the Netherlands and the Scandi countries don’t get things right.They appear to have enough admin jobs to cover it.

I don’t know where you got that information from Oreo, but they have the same issues that we do. In EU nations there are obviously reciprocal health systems. Other foreign nationals pay either on invoice or through their insurance companies, exactly as in the UK. They do not recoup successfully when people play the system either.

Mamie

My daughter had emergency surgery for a life threatening condition here in France a few years after Brexit. Her EHIC card paid 70% and her company private health insurance paid the rest, including an ambulance to Paris and travel on the Eurostar. After her release from hospital the 70% 30% applied to visits from the district nurses to our house until she was fit to travel. I think it is easier to cost here as it is done routinely for all treatment.

So good Mamie, she had travel insurance 👍🏻

The countries with which the UK has a reciprocal healthcare arrangement are in this link together with the documentation required.

The system is not perfect, to make it so would require armies of administration staff which would cost more than the amount lost to replicate in every hospital.
I was wondering about that, Casdon has answered the question.

Would people from overseas be treated for long-term conditions or just in dire emergencies, bearing in mind how difficult it is to get a GP appointment here or the fact that the wait in A&E can be many hours?

Mt61

Absolute rubbish politicsnerd

Not attacking any foreigners, people are interested to know is their health care paid for by them, fo they have insurance or do we the tax payer pick up the tab?

My daughter had emergency surgery for a life threatening condition here in France a few years after Brexit. Her EHIC card paid 70% and her company private health insurance paid the rest, including an ambulance to Paris and travel on the Eurostar. After her release from hospital the 70% 30% applied to visits from the district nurses to our house until she was fit to travel. I think it is easier to cost here as it is done routinely for all treatment.

Absolute rubbish politicsnerd

PoliticsNerd

Yes, Chocolatelovingran, I have a friend in the same position. They recieve Continuing Healthcare Funding which provides cover for the full cost of a patient’s care and it is not means tested.

However, like all other illnesses this is only provided provided when an individual’s need for care is primarily due to health reasons.

It is difficult to obtain but so is any need for care that moves from mainly social care to primarily health care.

My dad was the only person paying in his care home.
Carers were also privately paid for when mum decided to take my dad out of the home as he wasn’t being looked after properly.
Yes you get a good do, when you haven’t any savings, or property to pay for care- it’s all free!

They didn’t want to know Mokryna because it’s too much trouble in their eyes! Times this by a few thousand and you can see how much the NHS loses out by this attitude.

Hear, hear Prim and Oreo. The thread is not unpleasant - it is just stating an unpalatable fact.

In France I have to not only show my ID card but also a plastic national health card which has a bar code. UK don’t want to carry ID and the NHS card has a bar card which links up to all the French National Health system, whether it’s a clinic, hospital, laboratory etc.
However, I don’t know what happen to visitors to the country an emergency.
I must add when I have had to see a UK doctor and have medicine have offered to pay but they didn’t want to know and they never asked to see the European health card.

Casdon

I feel like a loop system is developing here. To repeat, again, the NHS does recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors. The system is not perfect, to make it so would require armies of administration staff which would cost more than the amount lost to replicate in every hospital. Successive governments have wrestled with this issue. Why on earth do you not check the facts?

Casdon how does the nhs recoup the money, if people from aboard haven’t paid into the system, or have travel insurance?

Casdon

I feel like a loop system is developing here. To repeat, again, the NHS does recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors. The system is not perfect, to make it so would require armies of administration staff which would cost more than the amount lost to replicate in every hospital. Successive governments have wrestled with this issue. Why on earth do you not check the facts?

Other hospitals seem to manage it in other countries.I would be very surprised if Germany and the Netherlands and the Scandi countries don’t get things right.They appear to have enough admin jobs to cover it.

Chocolatelovinggran

Mt61, I'm not sure what is meant by the statement that Alzheimer's sufferers not being funded.
Alzheimer's patients have NHS support.
It may not be enough, in some people's eyes, but it's certainly not " hardly any funding" - quite the reverse.
A relative of mine with Alzheimers has received excellent care over the years, at, no doubt, eye-watering expense.

I mean funds ploughed into finding a cure. I don’t mean treatment.
Chocolatelovinggran

I feel like a loop system is developing here. To repeat, again, the NHS does recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors. The system is not perfect, to make it so would require armies of administration staff which would cost more than the amount lost to replicate in every hospital. Successive governments have wrestled with this issue. Why on earth do you not check the facts?

I agree Primrose53 this calling threads unpleasant seems to be used if posters disagree.
Which in itself is unpleasant 😄

I am amazed this woman from Nigeria was allowed to fly!

Oreo

I must ask, why is it an unpleasant thread ? Nobody is saying that visitors should be refused treatment, that would never happen here.But if other countries can recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors then so should we.
The NHS needs to be kept going by every means possible .

Just what I said earlier. Just because I speak my mind and certain people disagree they think it’s clever to call it unpleasant. Daft really.

I have had many months of hospital visits and when staff tell me they cannot provide adequate physio treatment for stroke patients because there is no money to pay for staff cover and there is not enough basic equipment to go round it annoys me that people from other countries come here and get all their ops and care for free then clear off again. I know I am not the only one.

The NHS should be on top of this by now.

PoliticsNerd

petra

The £200 million is only for invoices issued. The majority of hospitals don’t issue an invoice as they know is a waste of time.

If that is true they sre not keeping proper accounts. Why has this not been taken to court?

Because the waste and inefficiency of the NHS is legendary.

I must ask, why is it an unpleasant thread ? Nobody is saying that visitors should be refused treatment, that would never happen here.But if other countries can recoup money for treatment to overseas visitors then so should we.
The NHS needs to be kept going by every means possible .

Context is all Oreo.

Delila

PoliticsNerd

Ladyleftfieldlover

MaizieD

What an unpleasant thread.

I agree.

It is.

The OP's post is odd in that they don't give or reference any facts.

Is it actually true? Why should we believe it? It sounds as if it's just been picked out of the pile marked "How to attack foreigners" for today's far-right initiative. However, I haven't read all the posts yet so I'll read on and see if I find enlightenment.

(Just to say I tried the headline online and I'm only getting eight year and older posts) but that was a very general search.

Yes, a very unpleasant thread.

PoliticsNerd, it seems the OP’s source is yesterday’s Daily Express, very possibly from that pile you mentioned….(She gives a link on the previous page).

Doesn’t matter what newspaper the report is from, the stats are from Dept of Health following a FOI request.

escaped

I guess the issue is, it's those who come to the UK on purpose to use the NHS for free and then go home. Not those who have a mishap here or fall seriously sick. It's those who set out to take advantage of the NHS because its free, and then leave our system drained.

I'm currently sitting on a 6 hour ferry homeward bound after 2 months abroad. In my purse I have a UK GHIC, a French carte vitale from when I worked there and paid contributions, and my travel insurance information. I cover all eventualities, as why should a foreign country have to pay the bill for my treatment?

I have accompanied several people to A & E abroad, and believe me, you don't get past the triage receptionist without filling out reams of paperwork and presenting your documents.
I wonder why we can't be bothered to do that in the UK.

You may well ask!
It’s more or less a can’t be bothered thing here.If other countries charge visitors from overseas then so should we.Any one who flies here for a holiday or business isn’t strapped for cash.It’s yet another NHS failure.