Migrants to pay 150% of NHS costs for their care

Migrants and foreign visitors from outside the European Union who access NHS healthcare will have to pay an additional 50% on top of the cost of their treatment, under new plans tabled by the UK government.

The move is part of a package of measures being introduced over the next two years to incentivise the NHS in England to work harder to charge more effectively and consistently, as part of a crackdown on so called “health tourism.”

Under existing rules, migrants and overseas visitors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) can access NHS care without paying upfront immediately or soon after their arrival in the United Kingdom and are required to pay the full cost after they have been treated. But many NHS trusts recover only a fraction of the money they are owed, which has prompted the government to introduce the new …