Charges paid by temporary migrants to the UK to use the NHS are to double, the government has announced.
The increase to the immigration health surcharge – payable by people from outside the European Economic Area staying in the UK for six months or longer – means the main rate will rise from £200 to £400 a year. The discounted rate for students and those on the youth mobility scheme will go up from £150 to £300.
A surcharge was brought in by the government in 2015 in a clampdown on so-called “health tourism”. It has been questioned by some doctors, who have voiced concern that the policy could be discriminatory and result in racial profiling to identify chargeable patients.
Health tourism, where people travel to Britain for NHS treatments they are not entitled to, took up about 0.3% of the NHS’s budget. This includes British citizens living overseas who return to the UK for treatment.
The increase to the immigration health surcharge – payable by people from outside the European Economic Area staying in the UK for six months or longer – means the main rate will rise from £200 to £400 a year. The discounted rate for students and those on the youth mobility scheme will go up from £150 to £300.
A surcharge was brought in by the government in 2015 in a clampdown on so-called “health tourism”. It has been questioned by some doctors, who have voiced concern that the policy could be discriminatory and result in racial profiling to identify chargeable patients.
Health tourism, where people travel to Britain for NHS treatments they are not entitled to, took up about 0.3% of the NHS’s budget. This includes British citizens living overseas who return to the UK for treatment.
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