Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill (First sitting)

Matt Western Excerpts

Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 27th November 2018 Public Bill Committees

[Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)]

Q Mr Jethwa, when you look at the current regulations, do you think the powers in the proposed legislation are proportionate?

Raj Jethwa: We would like to see much more emphasis on scrutiny of all the discussions in the arrangements going forward. There are some negative procedures—I think that is the term. Given the weight of the issue and the number of people that could be affected by it—I have mentioned the 190,000 UK pensioners who live abroad at the moment, but there are close to 3 million people from the European Union who access healthcare in this country, and there are many more than that who travel across the European Union at the moment—there probably needs to be greater scrutiny of any arrangements going forward.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Q Mr Henderson, I think you described the existing arrangements as pretty well universal. Could you explain a little more what the gaps are?

Mr Henderson: I am not actually sure I have all the detail. My understanding is that the European health insurance card and such arrangements work for all emergency situations, certainly, and most normal circumstances. I think, and Raj may know better than I, that there are some areas that are not covered particularly, but as I understand it, it is fairly universal. I am not an absolute expert in that, I am afraid.

Raj Jethwa: We can write to the Committee. My opinion is that it is pretty universal. There are probably niche areas that may not be covered. We can look into that and get back to the Committee if that would be helpful.

[Justin Madders]

Q I have one more question to both of you—I am not sure if either of you will know the answer. Some of the reciprocal arrangements we have at the moment are based on the actual cost expended and some are based on an average—Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Malta and Norway. I am not clear why that is the case. Is there some sort of historical issue? If either of you can shed any light on that, that would be extremely helpful. One of you is shaking your head.

Raj Jethwa: I do not know that, but again we are happy to look into that and to come back to you if we find out that somebody back home does know the answer. I am not sure that I know.

Mr Henderson: It is probably lost in the mists of various previous agreements.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alberto Costa]

Q What I am trying to ask is whether it might be the case that, without this Bill and without reciprocal arrangements, the cost of travel health insurance is likely to go up? Those of us who take out these policies are not necessarily reliant on EHIC, because we would refer to the private claim, whereas others who perhaps do not have healthcare benefits under a travel insurance policy would be entirely reliant on EHIC. What I am trying to tease out is whether, without this Bill, the healthcare side of travel insurance—the premiums—would potentially go up?

Alisa Dolgova: The claims cost will definitely increase, which may lead to an increase in travel insurance costs as well.

[Matt Western]

Q Out of interest, can I ask you a really simple question? What happens currently, but also perhaps in future, when someone is abroad and has an injury, an accident or whatever for which some form of implant is required, and that implant subsequently fails when the person returns to the UK and it is not supported by the NHS? Where does the cost burden fall and how does that impact on insurance, and how may that work in future if we do not have regulatory alignment?

Alisa Dolgova: Sorry, your question is who would pick up the cost if treatment were provided overseas, but it fails?

[Matt Western]

Yes. If that implant failed, whatever it might be, and the cost to revise that implant were then borne by the NHS, who picks up the cost, and how does that work? How does it work currently, and how might it work in the future based on this?

Alisa Dolgova: I am not sure I have a detailed enough answer to give at the moment. I would be happy to come back to the Committee on that, but again, I think it would ultimately depend on exactly what travel insurance policy is in place. I would assume that the travel insurance policy is likely to cover a person for the treatment they receive overseas, and if they then need additional medical treatment back in the UK, they would be treated within the UK healthcare system in the same way as they are currently.

[The Chair]

Are there any more questions from members of the Committee? If not, I thank you very much for helping the Committee with its deliberations on this Bill, and I call the next witness.

Examination of Witness

Fiona Loud gave evidence.