The consultation closes at 5pm on August 28th and we believe that everyone who cares about the health service should make their views known. This cynical move by the government, justified by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as a means of cutting back on so-called “health tourism”, is actually another attack on migrants – and one more step towards the privatisation of the NHS.
With their plans for the “migrant levy”, the coalition government is adding to the noxious anti immigration rhetoric which is being fuelled by some sections of the media and increasingly exploited by far right groups like the BNP and the English Defence League.
Administration for the surveillance of people affected by this new levy has not been properly thought through or costed and it is likely to be run by NHS staff who are already under pressure. There is a very real danger that monitoring of who is liable for the levy will lead to discrimination against people who do not speak English or appear to be foreign, with inadvertently racist decisions being taken by health and administration workers.
The “migrant levy” will cover those people from outside the European Community who do not have indefinite leave to remain in the UK. The levy will be at least £200 a year and, in many cases, will cost more.
Jeremy Hunt has said the NHS could be losing £200 million a year as a result of “health tourism” yet, in his New Statesman article “How Much Does 'Health Tourism' Actually Cost The NHS?”, George Eaton points out that the government has provided no evidence for this figure. Eaton estimates that the figure is actually around £12 million – or 0.01 per cent of the NHS budget. Compare this figure with the £16.3 billion (1 per cent of GDP) which the OECD estimates migrants contribute to the economy each year. Compare the figures also with the scandalous £50 billion the NHS was left owing to Private Finance Initiative schemes which cost £11 billion to build.
Universal primary health care for people living in the UK is essential, both for individuals themselves and for public health reasons. If people cannot afford to pay the levy and delay going to a GP it could exacerbate epidemics such as flu and measles, to say
nothing of the danger it poses to an individual's health. The government is saying that emergency health care will be available for people who are seriously ill or whose lives are at risk but the number of people who will need emergency care is likely to rocket if these new proposals become law. People who could have been treated by a GP may get so ill that they have to receive emergency treatment, so leading to more expense for the NHS not less.
The NHS is paid for through taxes, including VAT. Everyone in the country contributes towards health care. Jeremy Hunt's contention that it is a “national”, not “international”, health service is therefore disingenuous and pernicious. The government's “health tourism” narrative is both anti immigrant rhetoric and a cover for the creeping privatisation of the health service.
The major unions have called a demonstration in support of the NHS at the Tory Party conference in Manchester this September and we hope that it will be backed by unions, community groups, other organisations and individuals.
We need to ensure that it is the biggest demonstration Manchester has seen so the government is left in no doubt about our support for the National Health Service and our determination to resist government plans for privatisation.
But the consultation on the “migrant levy” ends before that, on August 28th, and we urge as many people as possible to take part.
To respond to the consultation, please see here.