PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health Insurance: Visas (12 May 2023)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of requiring people to have a valid certificate of medical insurance before being granted an immigration visa.

Asked by:
Gareth Bacon (Conservative)

The Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care undertake regular discussions on migrant access to healthcare, including the merits of private medical insurance versus other payment models. The government is committed to ensuring migrants make a suitable contribution to the NHS and cover the cost of their healthcare.

Migrants coming to the UK for six month or more to work, study or join family are already required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, in lieu of private medical insurance, covering the duration of their immigration permission. The Immigration Health Surcharge is based on the Department for Health and Social Care estimates of the annual cost to the NHS of treating IHS payers.

Answered by:
Robert Jenrick (Reform UK)
19 May 2023