Migrants to pay NHS entry fee

Foreigners visiting UK will have to pay NHS entry fee to pay for their healthcare.

07:21 03 July 2013

Foreigners arriving in Britain will have to pay NHS entry fee, which may amount up to thousands of pounds to pay for their healthcare. This will be paid upfront and will be imposed regardless if the visitors already have private health care insurance, The Sun can reveal.

The move aims to recoup £200million per year that NHS is shelling out to treat non-Brits. The scheme is expected to be unveiled by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tomorrow.

A senior source told The Sun: “The pressures on the health service are already huge with our ageing population, so we need to start relieving the burden.

“A migrant flat fee re-introduces the important contributory principle. Why should foreigners get treatment for free, while British citizens pay for theirs through their taxes?”

However, even before the unveiling of the scheme, it has already faced strong opposition from the Education and Business departments. Meanwhile, ministers insist it could hit talent and investments coming to the country if the NHS fee proved to be expensive for many. They added that this new scheme may slash universities’ and colleges’ potential income.