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emmie | 10:18 Wed 03rd Jul 2013 | News
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having looked through this earlier i keep wondering how they work out what to charge, why doesn't everyone who comes to UK have health insurance, wouldn't that be quicker, easier, cheaper all round.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/29/jeremy-hunt-immigrants-free-nhs-services
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em....this is what happens when one has State Medicine, all changes and modifications are politically motivated. This is all about getting votes by " curbing" or attacking non EU immigrants. £200.....£1000. It matters not one jot.......it is just a joke.....
10:23 Wed 03rd Jul 2013
How much it costs is irrelevant, we need a deterrent. The Sum needs to be around 5K though.

The whole welfare system needs to be addressed. It is NOT free, we pay dearly for it and outsiders should not be able to take advantage (and that includes members of the EU as we are not automatically entitled to treatment in say Spain). Currently the Employer contribution is 13.8% on ALL gross salaies. That is us paying that as it is taken from the amount employers put in the overall pay pot. Again, just because it is hidden does NOT mean it is free.
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whilst i tend to agree with you, most don't think it's workable, some don't think it would be right either...
In New Jersey em10, at any rate, the law requires that in an emergency, whether you have insurance or not, if you turn up at a hospital they MUST apply lifesaving treatment to the patient, also to any inborn child. They may then transfer you to a charity hospital or discharge you if that is appropriate. If you are discovered not to have a right of residence in the US, then once its safe to do so, you will be deported.

As I understand it (Sqad? Neti?) the thing in spain is that for residents, the spanish health service is spread over both private and state facilities. EHIC only entitles visitors to treatment at the state facilities, so if someone goes to a private facility and doesn't realise this, then they will end up with a bill which EHIC won't cover.

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people have been caught out though, perhaps travelling to Spain, broke a limb, gone to hospital, shown their EH1C card only to be told, they are covered for part, not all, and some have been seriously left out of pocket, which incidentally if it was reversed and it's a Spanish person here, that wouldn't be the case, treated in a NHS hospital...
actually it is the same.....The NHS will pay for residents to use private facilities if that is what is necessary to get them the care they need within the timescale. Joint replacements are purchased from private facilities, also cancer care, to name the two I have personal knowledge of. They won't fund private care in the same way for visitors to the UK. I don't believe they would do it for EHIC holders either as the treatments that they purchase from the private sector are not emergency treatments. the principal is the same, but the services which the health services in spain and the UK purchase from private facilities differ.
em your last post is a bit confusing, have you got a link to the story please?
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I meant the broken limb?
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i confess that i can't remember where i read it, but it was just a number of these stories, where British abroad, believing they were covered adequately by medical insurance, and the EHIC card in Europe, found that they are not.
oh so its what people "think".......
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no an actual story...
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some agree with charging, some obviously think it's a waste of time, well it's your dosh...
Well I agree with charging em, I think it should be done at the point of entry though.
I just don't get it...........threads over the years have instructed the world that unlike say the USA, the British are democratic, philanthropic, caring individuals and of course if your are ill, from whatever country, you will be treated by the NHS.......NOW.....all of a sudden that has changed.

Why?

Has the UK realised that they cannot afford to be a caring philanthropic society and that our NHS is running out of money.
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they weren't swamped with people back then. The NHS wasn't set up as a freebie, you do pay, just not on the day, but over years. Why should some, irrespective if it's two, or 2 thousand get free treatment
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not running out of money, but certainly chock full of pen pushers, start with them, why does any hospital have to be a Trust, why do you need a board, why so many middle managers, it's bonkers.
“I'm prepared to bet that the cost of tracing these people and collecting money from them will more than outweigh the savings made. “

Far too much is being made of the problems. Health services in other countries manage to collect their fees perfectly well. In addition, there would be no need to “trace” them as the treatment would not be provided until the payment was made.

What happens in other countries? In many of them you simply don’t get treated and they leave you to die on the street. In others you are afforded the very barest minimum of treatment just to “scrape you off the pavement“ so to speak. Others (Cuba for example) check your health insurance policy as you arrive. If you don’t have any you don’t get in, end of story.

There are ways to deal with this and it must be addressed. As has been said, the NHS is not “free”. It’s costing £1 in every seven collected in taxes. Most people do not pay their hard-earned to treat people who arrive here knowing full well they need treatment, having travelled here deliberately to gain that treatment. Those people of a philanthropic nature can perhaps set up and contribute to a charity that will help. A couple of hundred quid paid on arrival is certainly not the way to deal with it. One or two visits to a GP (each on £100k plus a year thanks to the previous government) and a few drugs will see that off in no time.
em 10 "no its an actual story"

Indeed and the actual story was about people who "thought" they were covered because they hadn't checked.
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which is essentially what i have been saying. No where can you get free treatment, no where.

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