- Charges for non-EU migrants to use the NHS are set to be doubled this year
- The fees are to rise to £400 to ensure that migrants make a 'fair contribution'
- Increase is lower than had been proposed by the Tories before the election
Ministers said the move - expected to rake in an extra £220million a year for the health service - would ensure new arrivals made a 'fair contribution'.
The £400 per year charge will apply to all migrants from outside the EU who want to stay in Britain for six months or more.
Students and those on special 'mobility' schemes for 18-30 year olds will get a discounted rate of £300, up from £150.
The £400 per year charge will apply to all migrants from outside the EU who want to stay in Britain for six months or more (file picture)
But the increase falls short of the Tory manifesto pledge to increase the annual fee to £600.
The surcharge was originally brought in by the Government in 2015 in a clampdown on so-called 'health tourism'.
The Department of Health estimates that the NHS spends £470 on average per person per year on treating surcharge payers.
The surcharge is levied when an application is made to come to Britain, and makes an individual exempt from NHS charges for overseas visitors.
It is payable every year, on top of regular taxes for workers, until migrants either return home or are granted indefinite leave to remain.
The £220million raised from the increased charges, due to be introduced later this year, will go straight back to the NHS.
Plans for the rise seem to have been watered down along with a host of other pledges from the botched Tory election campaign.
The £220million raised from the increased charges, due to be introduced later this year, will go straight back to the NHS (file picture)
Health Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy said: 'Our NHS is always there when you need it, paid for by British taxpayers.
'We welcome long-term migrants using the NHS, but it is only right that they make a fair contribution to its long-term sustainability.
'By increasing the surcharge so that it better reflects the actual costs of using health services, this Government is providing an extra £220 million a year to support the NHS.'
Nigerian woman, 43, racks up £500,000 NHS bill after giving birth to IVF quadruplets in London hospital after going into labour on flight to Heathrow
One of the largest hospitals in the country is chasing a bill of more than £500,000 from a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quadruplets.
The 43-year-old, named only as Priscilla, went into labour three months early shortly after landing at Heathrow airport in November.
She had intended to give birth to the babies in Chicago, in the US, where she has family – but was turned away by border officials upon arrival.
They claimed that although she had a visa, she did not have required documents from a hospital stating that she had the money to pay for the birth.
Health tourist? A 43 year-old Lagos native, known as Priscilla, was the subject of a BBC2 documentary Hospital after racking-up a £500,000 maternity bill
Priscilla, a healthcare worker, said she was returning to Nigeria via London when she started having contractions.
She was taken to the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in west London, part of Imperial College Hospital, where she delivered the four babies.
One sadly died shortly after birth while another, a girl named Deborah, passed away on Saturday. The other two, Elijah and Esther, are still being treated on the hospital’s neonatal intensive care ward.
Staff estimate that the total bill for the highly complex birth and the care of the babies is already more than £500,000.
The cost of treating one baby in neonatal intensive care is £20,000 a week.
Priscilla is currently staying at a hostel run by a charity and is unable to afford the bill.
Her husband is in Nigeria, and cannot come to Britain to help take care of her as he does not have enough money for a visa or the flight.
Priscilla underwent IVF treatment, which has a high risk of multiple births, as she was struggling to conceive naturally due to her age.
She was told by her doctor to fly to the US to have her babies, as Nigerian hospitals do not have the ‘facilities to cater for the children’.
Her case is revealed tonight in the BBC 2 documentary Hospital, which exposes the pressures of health tourism on the trust.
When first warned of the high treatment costs by overseas visitor manager Terry Facey, she says: ‘I didn’t plan to come here.
‘It’s only money. Money can’t buy life. The last bill I had was £331,000 but – even if I worked every day – I would never earn that much money. My kids are priceless.’
Mr Facey, who has worked at the trust for 12 years trying to collect bills for overseas patients, says: ‘Those invoices are going to be huge ... 20 grand a week for each baby [in intensive care].
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5352359/NHS-fees-non-EU-nationals-set-DOUBLED.html
