It is now crystal clear that the Directive on the application of patient’s rights in cross-border healthcare is having a negative
impact on member states ability to organise their respective national health
systems. Everyone agrees that the rights of patients who seek/receive
cross-border healthcare should be protected but EU legislation does not protect
those rights whilst ensuring the Member State’s
responsibility for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical
care. This Directive has created further bureaucratic and administrative
burdens for the UK health commissioning bodies. There have been further costs
in administering mechanisms for reimbursing costs. In the other hand, there has
been a wave of ´health tourism´,
which is having a negative impact on NHS.
In fact, there has been widespread coverage today over
the costs of health tourism to the NHS. According to the Daily Telegraph a
report commissioner by the Department of Health noted that “the total cost of treating both foreign
residents and short-term visitors to the UK is between £1.9 billion and £2
billion.” It pointed out that "Around £388 million a year is spent on foreigners who should pay for care
under current rules – European citizens whose home governments should pay
their costs – but only around £73 million is recovered".
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is hopping to recover around
£500million a year. According to the Daily Mail he said, ‘It’s
time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service – not an international one. With the NHS already under
pressure from an ageing population, it cannot be right that large amounts of
taxpayers’ money is being lost through treating people
who should be paying from foreign countries.’
