Medical costs for expats in the UK will soon become more expensive

It’s not a novelty, the National Health Service (NHS), England’s public health service is in poor shape. In order to relieve pressure on the system, and probably in the same way, to try to limit the record level of migration, the British government will take measures to deny funding.

Reduce expatriate pressure on the National Health Service

Set aside for foreigners residing on British soil for more than six months, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), has been in place since 2015, before Brexit, and requires migrant workers to pay additional contributions to access the UK public health service (with some exceptions, including NHS staff and asylum seekers).

The package, which currently costs £624 a year, could soon reach £1200, and possibly even more.

A number of proposals have been submitted to the Treasury by the various Ministers concerned on how to increase the IHS to generate the additional revenue required for the proper functioning of the NHS. For example, older migrants (over 65 years of age) may have higher premiums and be more likely to use health services than foreign students or young workers in need of the country. But more radical and more expensive options are also presented to foreigners.

Since its inception, the IHS has seen funding rise to £200 a year between 2015 and 2020 to £624 – with students and children paying a reduced fee of £470 – and helped raise £1 billion for the NHS.