Non-EU migrants to face £200 healthcare entry fee

[dutchman]

Non-EU citizens who come to the UK to work or study will have to pay a healthcare levy of at least £200 on top of visa costs before they are allowed to enter the country, under plans to be set out today.

The fee would be paid upfront by long-term visitors, regardless of whether they go on to use NHS services during their stay, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, will announce.

In an additional proposal that aims to reduce the toll that visitors are thought to take on the NHS, people from outside the EU staying less than six months would lose their right to see a family doctor without charge.

Mr Hunt, who will launch a consultation in the House of Commons, said: “We need to ensure that those residing or visiting the UK are contributing to the system in the same way as British taxpayers, and ensure we do as much as possible to target illegal migration.

“We have been clear that we are a National Health Service, not an international health service and I am determined to wipe out abuse,” he added.

Evidence that migrants take a disproportionate toll on the health system has been hard to come by. The Nuffield Trust health think-tank concluded that migrants were less likely to use hospitals than the rest of the population, because they tended to be relatively young and more healthy.

However, ministers feel that in an era of austerity where voters are concerned about the effect of immigration, it is vital that migrants are seen to be making a financial contribution for using the NHS.

Mr Hunt has ordered an audit to determine how much the treatment of long and short-stay visitors costs.

Concern has centred not only on the burden imposed on the NHS by migrants from outside the EU but also those from inside the bloc, whose home countries are meant to reimburse the NHS for treatment.

A review last year concluded that about half of treatment costs were never paid back. More efficient procedures will now be put into effect to claim back those costs.