GPs offered cash to trap 'health tourists'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Family doctors are to be offered a cash incentive for "shopping" so-called health tourists as a survey reveals that US citizens are among the most likely to claim free NHS care wrongly.
John Hutton, the minister responsible, will tell GP practices they can keep money recovered from the "health tourists" they help to catch.
However, Mr Hutton was embarrassed when he admitted that the Government has no idea how much "health tourism" is costing. Some bodies have claimed it costs up to £200m each year to treat ineligible patients.
But health economists say that the only research so far carried out suggests that such figures are wildly inaccurate. Evidence presented to a seminar on the issue last week showed that only half of GPs surveyed had reported treating ineligible patients in the last three months.
The research carried out by the Centre for Health Economics at York University, also found that US citizens were the second most likely to wrongly claim NS care.
Just over 9 per cent of the "health tourists" identified were US citizens, compared with 14 per cent from Pakistan. British ex-pats, who do not pay UK taxes and are therefore ineligible, were the fifth largest group.
Most "health tourists" in the survey were discovered to be seeking care for pregnancy.
Dr Paul Kind, who carried out the research, said: "It's pretty worrying that the Government is unable to say how much this problem is costing and is therefore making policy without the key evidence."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments