Patients told: Prove you're a Kiwi

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Health authorities are demanding that all patients produce proof they are New Zealanders or have residency.

The move is a crackdown on ineligible foreigners wrongly being given non-urgent treatment at taxpayers' expense.

Patients using health board or any other taxpayer-funded health and disability services are being sent letters asking them for a New Zealand birth certificate or passport - or other proof of eligibility - to show they are entitled to the service.

Those who can't produce the proof are told they will have to foot the bill themselves.

Millions of dollars are now spent on patients who do not qualify for state-funded care.

Tim Holt of New Lynn is one of many patients who have received the letter. His came from the Waitemata District Health Board, and he is refusing to comply.

The 46-year-old is on an invalid's benefit after ACC refused to pay weekly compensation following a fall in 2008 which left him with a suspected fracture of his pelvis and serious pain.

He has had consultations with Waitemata DHB specialists for sinus and back problems.

The first letter Mr Holt received was dated December 13 and demanded that he show the board his New Zealand birth certificate, passport or other proof of eligibility.

Yesterday, he opened a second letter which said that if he did not comply by January 10, he would be sent a bill for his care.

"It's fair enough if it's a visitor, because it's costing the country millions," Mr Holt said. "I can see the reason for it. But there should be a database they can access."

He said health boards should be given electronic access to Internal Affairs' citizenship records.

Mr Holt was born at Paparoa, north of the Kaipara Harbour.

He said he did not have a copy of his birth certificate and did not think it fair that he should have to spend the $26.50 needed to obtain one.

His passport expired in 1999 and he had no plans to request another.

A Waitemata spokesman said staff had been instructed to ask all patients to prove their eligibility from July. "We wrote to all GPs and midwives on June 30 saying all patients needed to produce a copy of their birth certificate or passport or other proof of eligibility or they would have to seek treatment privately or pay for it."

Those eligible for state-funded care include citizens and permanent residents, Australians, Britons, holders of a two-year or longer work permit, refugees, and accident victims covered by ACC.

If a patient is acutely sick or injured, the general policy is to treat first, ask later. Others must show their proof before receiving care.

The Auckland DHB has been toughening up on eligibility, even before the Health Ministry told boards in late 2008 that they must do better.

The then Director-General of Health, Stephen McKernan, told Auckland DHB chief Garry Smith in January 2009 that there were inconsistencies in the way boards were interpreting eligibility, and some health and disability service providers were claiming state funding for those not entitled to it.

In August, the Auckland DHB upset city rest homes by demanding birth certificates or passports of residents claiming the aged residential care subsidy.