We often talk on this blog about individual case studies of treatment abroad, but what about the bigger political picture? According to an article in the Health Services Journal, the Department of Health is preparing itself to challenge the European Court of Justice on the rights of UK citizens to be treated abroad at the NHS’s expense.
Draft guidance issued by the DH warns that a draft European Union Directive means that NHS commissioners have “limited grounds” to refuse to reimburse UK citizens the cost of their care if they opt to have it elsewhere in the EU. The guidance says that in general, primary care trusts must reimburse the patient up to the NHS price of the treatment. It says that should include treatment carried out privately, but PCTs should not pay for care that would not have been provided by the NHS, such as certain cosmetic surgery or dental implants etc. So this sounds like some good news for anyone in the UK considering treatment abroad…
But not so fast –according to the Health Services Journal, the DH is gearing up for a battle with the European Court of Justice against reimbursing us for treatment abroad, as it will demand that patients wanting expensive or “hospital” treatment ask their PCT’s permission first. Draft regulations from the DH define this as: services requiring at least one night’s stay; surgery; services using “specialised and cost intensive medical equipment”; expensive and specialist services and any other services specified by the PCT or health secretary. This requirement has not been defined by the European Courts of Justice, although they have ruled pre-authorisation before treatment abroad can be justified.
So what does this mean for people considering treatment abroad? Well, at the moment, not much – we will have to wait to see for the final EU directive, and see how the DH choose to respond. In the meantime, if you are considering treatment abroad it is best to prepare as much as you can, including talking to your local PCT, special information sites e.g. http://www.treatmentabroad.net/ and obtaining your specialist travel insurance, and finding out about funding or support options.
Tags: Departm ent of Health, medical tourism, NHS, specialist travel insurance, travel insurance for medical conditions, treatment abroad
I run a small dental travel company in Budapest (http://www.dacadia.eu) with most clients arriving from Denmark, the UK and Ireland.
The EU regulation about free movement of goods and services is already in place and therefore all my Danish clients are eligible for the same reimbursements as if their treatment had been in Denmark. At the dentist in Denmark, a patient pays the bill after public subsidies (and private insurance cover) have automatically been deducted, but when they come here, then they pay the full amount and can then get the refund from their local health office and private health insurance if they have one.
As far as I know, Irish clients can deduct their treatment here on their tax return form just the same as if it had been dental work done in Ireland.
This is something the Danish and Irish governments cannot deny their citizens. The reason why the British Department of Health can get away with denying reimbursement for my British clients is the system of having both private and NHS dentists.
Theoretically, the NHS would have to treat an application from a Hungarian dentist (or a dentist from any other EU country) to become an NHS dentist as if it had been a British dentist and then the treatment would be covered for people who qualify for NHS dental treatment. However, I do not know of any dentists here who have wanted to go through the hassle.
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