Foreign patients owe $80k for treatment

Foreign patients owe the Hawke's Bay DHB almost $80k in unpaid fees.

Foreign patients in Hawke's Bay owed almost $80,000 for medical treatment as of December.

Figures released under the Official Information Act, show 53 foreign patients owed a total of $79,662 in unpaid medical bills at the end of 2014.

However, the amount owed was a sharp drop on previous years. In 2013, 88 debtors owed $408,545 and in 2012, 66 debtors owed $392,807.

The Government foots the bill for New Zealanders but foreign patients have to fill out an eligibility form when they turn up at hospital.

A Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB) spokeswoman said the board alerted immigration to ineligible patients' debts and referred them to a debt collection agency.

"The district health board has a lot of signage in a variety of languages regarding eligibility for free health care and works closely with patients who are admitted to hospital but are not eligible for free health care to help them work out a payment plan," she said.

"This has helped reduce the amount of money owing to the DHB in the past years."

Nationally, district health boards write off millions of dollars each year from treating foreign patients.

Patients from some countries were covered under their visa status. Patients from the United Kingdom Australia, Tokelau, Niue and the Cook Islands have reciprocal agreements to cover the treatment.

Foreign patients injured by accidents may also be covered by ACC.

Ministry of Health spokesman John Hazeldine said district health boards were responsible for recovering debts from non-eligible patients.

"The ministry recognises that this is not always possible and compensates DHBs with a higher level of debt write-off through its funding." NZME.