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Abuse Of Nhs By Foreigners.

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modeller | 07:55 Thu 19th Sep 2013 | News
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gromit //If the NHS is too busy to issue an invoice, it will be too busy to persue an insurance claim.//

So you don't see the difference between sending block claims to an insurance company which will be paid, and sending thousands of claims to
individuals , which wont.

On one occasion an American who spent 2 weeks in a London hospital told my daughter he was told they had no facilities for charging him , once he was in the hospital. He said no one even took his address in the US.
Sqad
// Gromit.....those are YOUR figures based on reports that support YOUR argument.......which is your usual modes operandi //

Those are not MY figures, they are compiled from official NHS accounts. I have not made them up, I know nothing of treatment numbers, but I have to accept the ones that are in the public domain and the £12million lost seems to be accepted as the only accounted figure.

Around £33 million went on the treatment of foreign nationals in hospitals in 2011/12, of which around £12m was written off.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2353411/All-foreigners-face-charged-thousands-pounds-BEFORE-use-NHS.html#ixzz2fKdH6Oed 

There is speculation that the figure may be higher, but those are only guesses and are not backed up by any audited data.

MY argument is based on the figures, not the other way around. I am arguing that it is a very small problem, and the cost of solving it would be greater than any savings, based on the figures. If higher figures were revealed, I would have to review that position.

You refuse to accept any figures and insist the loses are significant. But that is based on nothing but your own suposition, with nothing to back it up.

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Gromit /// Just a daft policy to appeal to the bigots. ///

Quite right Gromit ! If you are not a Socialist you must be a bigot !
What's a few tens of £millions to a S just // pointless trivia to get headlines. //
12 million spread over the NHS budget is an incredibly small amount

The NHS employs about 1.4 million staff so I'd not be surprised to find that their budget for pens is about that.

However I cannot see a good reason not to insist on health insurance as a precondition of a visa
// sending block claims to an insurance company which will be paid //

Have you ever claimed insurance? I can assure you they do not cough up immediately. In this instance, they will require an itemised bill, proof the treatment was necessary, a list of charges, an independent medical assessment that the diagnosis was right and properly treated etc.
Insurance Companies have vast legal resourses behind them to quibble any claim. An individual doesn't. I would guess that the vast number of treatments of foreigners that are not invoiced is because the sums recoverable are not worth the admin of pursuing them.
Are insurance companies that reluctant to pay out?
// However I cannot see a good reason not to insist on health insurance as a precondition of a visa //

I agree. But is likely to cost more to introduce and administer than the £12million potential savings. And the stated reason for doing it is to save money?
I don't mind funding paperclips as trust they are used wisely. I object to being considered a soft touch, a sucker for anyone that chooses to abuse one's hospitality. I may click the link now.
Gromit......we seem to be going around in circles.......you have chosen £21 million as the cost and then you develop your argument based on that........fine, I have no objection as that suits your case....I would do the same.

But.....from the link that you gave me to read, I presume..this was stated:

"He will vow to cut the £200 million annual bill for treating foreigners."
He being Jeremy Hunt, from Government statistics, so we then are confronting a figure of 10 times that of which you are basing your argument

Do I trust Government figures? On the NHS? You bet I don't.




Particularly if they contradict rather than reinforce your existing opinions?
"Another idea being considered, as part of a consultation launched in July, is to require migrants to pay a levy of £200 when they apply for a visa of more than six months. "

Hmm, do the ones coming here just for treatment even bother applying for a 6 month visa. Don't they just give reason for visit as "tourism"?

I was going to suggest that the ones who look a bit poorly when they get off the plane should be given an immediate medical (make sure they're not bringing TB or other contagion here), even if they claim the visit is for "tourism".

Terribly tempting to then say "send the sick ones straight back on the return flight" but, obviously, not if they were at death's door, which would be cruel.

Deeply impractical and massively expensive to have medical staff deployed in such a role at all ports/airports of entry but just putting the idea out there.




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Gromit //In this instance, they will require an itemised bill, proof the treatment was necessary, a list of charges, an independent medical assessment that the diagnosis was right and properly treated etc.//
NO Gromit ! Wrong Again ! Insurance companies don't work that way for block claims. They negotiate an average figure . So if you have say an ingrowing toenail or a broken rib the Insurance company pay the same fixed amount to the hospital trust. There are a few fixed bands each with its own agreed tariff. That's the way Insurers work . I'm surprised you didn't know that , with your intimate knowledge of the city.
Maybe I am missing something. A traveller will be required to have a medical insurance ticket before they are allowed to enter. Insurances will be taken out in hundreds of countries all over the world with different companies. The hospitals will not be able to send block claims to one company. The cost will be horredous and the complexity means the Hospitals will not attempt it.
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You are wriggling Gromit . !

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