Health tourism clamp down in the UK

Foreigners face being charged around £200-a-year for using the NHS in an attempt to tackle so-called health tourism.

Ministers will outline plans to introduce the charge for foreign workers and students who come to the UK for more than half a year.The Department of Health said it would make sure migrants contributed towards healthcare costs without adding to NHS red tape.

This move forms part of changes to immigration laws.Foreigners could be given a temporary NHS number which flags up to the system that they should be paying for treatment.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News: “Hard-working British families pay their taxes for the NHS and we think that people coming from overseas should make some contribution as well.”At the moment we don’t track properly who should be paying and who shouldn’t and the result is it is costing British taxpayers a lot of money.”