Taxpayers foot $18k Whanganui healthcare bill for foreign visitors

The DHB has said goodbye to almost $20,000 of healthcare provided to foreign visitors. Photo/File

Taxpayers have had to pay almost $20,000 in healthcare bills for foreign visitors who injured themselves in Whanganui.

The District Health Board has written off $18,500 in debt that they couldn't recover from hospitalised travellers in the last few years.

Hospitals will provide healthcare to anyone who injures themselves in New Zealand. If the person was not eligible for free healthcare, the person was invoiced for the cost of the service. Those that have health insurance, which was not compulsory, pass the bill on to the insurance provider.

The DHB is currently owed another $54,000 by foreigners who have not yet paid their bills, WDHB general manager of corporate services, Brian Walden said.

Mr Walden said the majority of that amount was termed "current" debt, meaning it was recently incurred. He said much of this was invoiced to insurance companies and he expected to receive the debt.

The DHB has provided around $106,000 in services to non-resident, ineligible visitors in the last 11 months.

Nationwide, about $50m of foreign-incurred debt was written off by district health boards around the country over a three year period to October 2016.

This was almost a third of the total $160m spent on healthcare for ineligible visitors.

Taxpayers' Union executive director Jordan Williams said writing off a thirty per cent of debts was not good enough and directly cost the taxpayer.

"The fact that we're writing off a third shows we're doing a lot more than letting people off who can't afford it; we actually just have poor systems following it up and recovering the money," Mr Williams said.

Mr Williams dismissed some calls for a border levy to pay for these costs.

"There needs to be a greater effort in enforcing these debts, and the revenue should be collected from the people incurring them, not some levy or complicated new tax.

"Perhaps it is a role of government to provide DHBs with advice on how to do it. Given the amounts, maybe it is time for a central scheme, although DHBs aren't small business. They are large organizations; they should be able to recover debts even from foreigners.

"Taking the passport until the person provides their insurance details seems to us a common sense step."

Who gets free healthcare in New Zealand?
- Permanent residents
- NZ citizens living in the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau
- Australians who intend or have lived here for two or more years.
- Some Brits who fit a reciprocal agreement
- Holders of two-year or longer work visas
- Children of those eligible
- And a small amount of others