BMA vote not to charge "health tourists"

[IrmaFayLear]

Quite cross about this.

Different of course if someone has a heart attack/car accident, but to turn up specifically to access expensive maternity/cancer etc treatment is not only unacceptable but unsustainable.

Particularly annoyed because the pil's dementia care which they had to self-fund ran into many hundreds of thousands (at a humdrum establishment, too).

It sticks in one's craw to be told constantly that the NHS is crumbling but that an extra couple of billion per year is ok for health tourists.

Having said all that, implementing a system that checked a person’s entitlement to treatment beforehand treating would delay treatment, cost a lot of money to implement and would take up a lot of admin time for health care staff.

I can't believe that people (GPs) can truly believe that it is a fair system that allows anyone from wherever in the world (including "rich" countries) to access any care whatever the timeframe and cost without any contribution.

As I said, the motivation is political - they believe that levying any sort of charge for care, on anyone, opens the door to levying charges on everyone and therefore it's a price worth paying to prevent that happening. It's not only GPs who think like this, but in my circle, they are the most vociferous about it.

I had a car accident several years ago and was taken to the A&E of a hospital close to Gatwick. I was waiting to be seen, suspected whiplash and broken ankle and when I asked about the wait I was told after the Lagos flight arrived. I thought the receptionist was joking but she said that the have Nigerian women arriving every day in labour to get free treatment and to ensure their children were born in the UK and could get a UK passport.

It's a disaster.

Politically, you cannot retain free-to-access heathcare care, funded by sovereign state tax-payers, if that care is open to all and sundry on an international basis. You will erode all goodwill for that system on the part of the public, who will then register their disapproval by voting for those who will either restrict the service or privatise it.

Anger will grow, particularly if tax-payers find their access to the service undermined by foreign nationals, and in the current political climate where such concerns coalesced to deliver a brexit vote (in short, political chaos), it is very dangerous to pursue this path.

If Britain wishes to deliver healthcare to foreign nationals, it should set up international hospitals where care is funded from the foreign aid budget.

2Brieornot2Brie you dont automatically get a UK passport if youre born here. Your parents need to either be citizens or have settled status.

Until last month, we lived abroad.
We got glasses for DS in the UK because it is cheaper. But the look on the opticians faces when we told them not NHS, we need to pay full price. They just couldn't compute it. They sorted it eventually because we refused to sign the entitlement paperwork.
Ditto, the one time we were visiting, and he needed the Dr, they were absolutely brilliant, but "couldn't" charge us, despite us giving an address outside the EU. Is it because we look and sound "right"???

As PissedOff says, it would protect the vulnerable

We can't take on all the rest of the world's problems, many of which are of their own making through corrupt use of billions of aid. Not a pc view but true.

I can't believe that people (GPs) can truly believe that it is a fair system that allows anyone from wherever in the world (including "rich" countries) to access any care whatever the timeframe and cost without any contribution
I'm not sure if it is relevant but last October when I was in Australia I became ill. My sister phoned up the doctors, I has an appointment 2 hours later, received treatment. The doctor typed out an invoice and I paid the receptionist on my way out.
I received a service and settled my bill. Australia doesnt owe me anything,I dont contribute to their economy so far do's.
Why couldn't that be implemented here, certainly with the non urgent care such as heart attacks and strokes.
I'm happy to hear opinions as I haven't read the report yet and don't know the reasons why the BMA have their opinion yet.

"ensure their children were born in the UK and could get a UK passport"
Well there's scaremongering racist nonsense right there, as being born in the UK doesn't give you the right to a UK passport. And if you can afford a flight to the UK, you can probably afford private medical care in Nigeria.

None urgent care such as heart attacks and strokes
Could you clarify what you would class as urgent care, please notacooldad?

I worked as a nurse in a Manchester Hospital where Indian and Pakistani people regularly brought their sick,elderly relatives from back home when they needed expensive care. Careful questioning about who their GP was and which hospital had their medical records often lead to the patient disappearing, probably to pop up in a less vigilant NHS Hospital. We need NHS identity cards and they need to be enforced. A previous poster who said this would affect undocumented migrants?? What are you thinking? Undocumented migrants are here illegally and should be removed. No travel visa to the UK without valid medical insurance would help too. Harsh but only fair to the UK taxpayer. If we want the NHS to still be here in 10 years time we need to start defending it today.

The issue in the UK is that there is not a system to pay. Lots of other countries charge and reimburse. Which means it's easy to charge and not reimburse. Medical billing is an actual career in many countries.

So if you think it would be better to change the entire system at considerable expense, and exclude refugees and the like, just to charge Fred from Australia, go ahead. But I think it's short-sighted. It'll make it that much easier to charge you...

I have no problem with members of the BMA and anyone else so inclined paying in to a fund to cover the cost of healthcare for anyone not UK resident.

I take it this is what the OP wants to see ?

We can't take on all the rest of the world's problems, many of which are of their own making through corrupt use of billions of aid.

Nothing at all to do with colonialism then?

If we want the NHS to still be here in 10 years time we need to start defending it today.

This *. Of course there is a place for ensuring genuine refugees and trafficked women get the same care as everybody else. But deliberately coming to the UK via Sweden purely to access care is stealing.

Its so caring and loving, how generous socialists are with other people's money.

The British are unhinged about the NHS.

It is the strangest thing, that otherwise intelligent rational people lose their minds over the State Religion that is the National Health Service and all thinking is suspended.

she said that the have Nigerian women arriving every day in labour

Either that nurse was a lying racist or you are a lying racist, because this simply isn't true

None urgent care such as heart attacks and strokes
could you clarify what you would class as urgent care, please nitacooldad
Oops my mistake! I was going down one route of thought about my treatment which wasn't life threatening and changed what I intended to say!!

Apologises, my non urgent was a skin infection that needed prescription medication and I was expected and happy to pay for!!

If we want the NHS to still be here in 10 years time we need to start defending it today.

I think we're probably 15 years too late.

What people fail to see is that as the NHS declines it is poorer British people who suffer most. They have no money, no private health insurance and they are less likely to be able to navigate the NHS system then their wealthier counterparts. It won't be the mums who fly in from Africa to give birth in London Hospitals and use their NICU facilities who will miss out. No, they have the system all worked out and are ready to cry racism should anyone question them. Please note I'm fully aware that a birth in Britain doesn't equal a British passport.

Bearing in mind the pressure on the NHS they should not be treating anyone not resident and paying tax.

I think we're probably 15 years too late.

Oh absolutely, probably 30 too late, but every year we fail to act is a year nearer to the death of the NHS.

There was an article a while ago in the Times about people having fertility treatment in Africa and when pregnant with 6 babies are told to fly to the U.K. to get treatment for the birth. But I suppose this is ‘racist’ because it does not fit in with the lefties views.

There was an article a while ago in the Times about people having fertility treatment in Africa and when pregnant with 6 babies are told to fly to the U.K. to get treatment for the birth. But I suppose this is ‘racist’ because it does not fit in with the lefties views.

Here's a compromise. Without a cite it's racist. With a cite, it's a valid discussion point, starting with veracity and accuracy. We could call it the Rossetti challenge.