Doctors Say Billing Foreign Nhs Patients Racist

[fender62]

how is it racist, as ill people come from all over the world, is this virtue signalling.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9374781/doctors-billing-foreign-nhs-patients-racist/

[ummmm]

I don't see how. I was in the doctors in Spain recently and had to pay 611 Euro before we even left the clinic. No waiting about to fill in insurance claims.

[fiction-factory]

I agree with ummmm. Not racist at all- evry other contry would seek to recover the money. The only issue is that collecting money seems to be a very messy and expensive process in some cases particularly where health tourists are involved. Is the hospital going to lock them in and feed them/give them a bed if they don't pay? I'm not sure why we find it harder to recover money than other countries do but i remmeber seeinga TV programme showing that it wasn't always cost effective. Nevertheless we should try our best and refuse some treatments until payment can be made up front or it will just encourage even more foreign health tourism.

[Togo]

//I'm not sure why we find it harder to recover money than other countries do//

Look no further than the people responsible for the recovery of the costs to our NHS. Look firstly at their "political" beliefs and ideology. Save yourself the wasted time looking for "other" reasons.

[fiction-factory]

That may be a factor but there was a TV programme following case studies and there were real problems identifying patients and recovering money from those who either seemed to have none or knew how to avoid payment. Maybe all those charged with recovering money were only pretending to try so hard but I doubt it. Of course the programme may have been on the Beep Beep See so maybe some felt it was all staged by libtards/libluvvies.

[johnk]

If we charge them less will come in the future and that will be a great saving for the NHS. Even if it's difficult let the health tourists know they'll be charged

[Cloverjo]

The doctors didn’t say it was racist, just that it was racial profiling. They (or admin staff) would have to decide who ‘looked a bit foreign’ and then chase them for payment.

[dannyk13]

From reading the article it would appear that the doctors are talking about migrants, not visitors.

[youngmafbog]

Not in the article I read Danny.

"Patients “ordinarily resident” here — usually for six months — can access free NHS care, as can EU citizens with an EHIC card. Any others are charged before treatment, with NHS staff checking their status first"

If is is just about who to ask for id the answer is - everyone hands over their NI card. - sorted.

Heath tourism needs stopping or it will break the NHS - it is NOT racist.

These doctors are ideological idiots.

[dannyk13]

Sorry ymb I was misled by this quote //“Charging migrants for accessing NHS services is a fundamentally racist endeavour.”//

[fiction-factory]

>If is is just about who to ask for id the answer is - everyone hands over their NI card. - sorted.
Fine- so long as we are prepared to refuse treatment to UK citizens who turn up without suitable ID.
And I doubt it would work in A&E - eg road accident victims-so would have to apply to things like maternity, operations.
Other countries seem to make it work pretty well but I doubt our doctors and nurses want to be spending time on this

[youngmafbog]

It's a very badly worded article Danny. I had to read it a couple of times to make sense.

[youngmafbog]

"And I doubt it would work in A&E - eg road accident victims"

I would hope the Country would be gracious enough to treat anyone in that situation.

I dont really see a problem with the ID bit. Most are registered with a GP and if go to hospital already bring in their 'letter of referral'. Going forward if the NHS can get it's act together on a basic IT system it would be even easier.

It can be done - and should be.

[dannyk13]

This type of health tourism really needs to be sorted out:-

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5249148/birth-tourism-costs-britain-nhs-10-million-pounds/

[Peter Pedant]

// I don't see how. I was in the doctors in Spain recently and had to pay 611 Euro before we even left the clinic. //

I do see how: the clinic in Thpain had a charging option/office. You didnt just hand pesetas to the doc did you? (erm that has occurred)

we dont - and so if we read the article - Dr Bongo Bongo from Bongoland ( I am just repeating what a politician said 20 y ago - Carrington I think ) said it was racist and the white one said
it just aint worf it - as we all really knew anyway

that is like dog and cat licences, the cost of collecting outweighs the income and so it is not economic to do it

we have had this debate before you know ....

the midreading
the deliberate misinterpretation
the - they do it in bongoland so it MUST work here - it stand to reason !
the well known and well worn counter argument on money grounds
the screaming of Brexit Bresit it will be different then!

all before 9 am on AB

[ToraToraTora]

Load of old Pony.

[Old_Geezer]

Racist, racist profiling, complicit in racism : all amounts to the same.

I can understand folk wanting fewer responsibilities in their job, but they need a better feeble excuse than that. It's clearly not racist to ensure their are offering services just to those entitled. Emergencies are exempt anyway, and the rest will have papers, or be known at the GP practice that sent them.

Maybe the devil is in the detail on the objection, but it's still a professional's job to ensure they serve the right customers/patients. No contest. No racism. No daft claims.

[douglas9401]

First, do no harm, second, ID please.

[Sqad]

What do you expect?
NHS is State funded organisation.
The BMA is one of the strongest and most powerful Unions and you would be surprised how many left wing doctors there are in the UK....the more foreign doctors, the more left wing medicine in the UK will become.The NHS in the UK is more than a health service, it is an non critisisable (?) religion.
Medical treatment and care has to be funded....someone must pay.
It certainly is not racist, it is sensible to charge non contributors to use the NHS.

[Togo]

It appears that some of our doctors do not care as much for the well being of our NHS as they like you to believe.
//The NHS is owed almost £600million in unpaid rent on the buildings it owns, an investigation has found.
Some 70 per cent of the health service's tenants - mostly branches of the NHS or GPs - haven't even signed a lease and it has 'no power' to make them sign or to force them to pay rent. //

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7179025/The-NHS-owed-600million-unpaid-rent.html

[CrapAtCryptics]

is it racist that I buy travel insurance for every holiday so that someone else doesnt have to pay my costs. We should make it a law that if you travel here you must have adequate insurance.