Health written question – answered at on 14 September 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 5 September 2011, Official Report, column 156W, on health services: foreign nationals, what the cost was of reclaiming NHS costs from each other EU state for treatment of its nationals in the UK in the latest period for which figures are available; what average length of time it took each other EU state to process repayment of NHS costs for treatment of its nationals in the UK in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many outstanding claims the UK has against each other EU state for treatment of its nationals in the UK.
Historically, payment of claims between member states was slow in this area—the previous European Union Regulations did not provide for time limits on payments. New regulations, which came into force in May 2010, introduced an 18-month time limit on payments. A total of 53 claims have been submitted in 2010-11 under the new regulations, and payments have been made to date for 23 of these claims. By country, the time from claim to payment, or average time if more than one payment, is set out in the following table.
European economic area medical cost UK claims— Claims made in 2010-11 under Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004, time from claim to payment | |
Country | Months |
Austria | 5.0 |
Belgium | 5.0 |
Bulgaria | 9.1 |
Germany | 4.9 |
Iceland | 5.3 |
Latvia | 3.4 |
Liechtenstein | 8.0 |
Lithuania | 4.8 |
Luxembourg | 8.3 |
Poland | 5.8 |
Slovakia | 8.3 |
Sweden | 5.5 |
Switzerland | 6.2 |
Overall average | 5.7 |
Payments have yet to be made for 30 claims. None of these claims currently exceed the time limit for payment.
In 2010-11, departmental salary costs for staff handling UK claims and income payments totalled around £100,000. In addition, each NHS trust is likely to have an overseas visitors’ manager. A small proportion of their time will be dedicated to collecting the required data required to raise a claim.
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