In the big debate currently going on about the level of immigration to the UK, one of the measures being considered by the coalition is to make employers pay for private healthcare for migrant workers they take on from outside the EU. In the proposals, migrant workers who have been transferred in by multi-national companies – 30,000 since the end of 2008 - are currently excluded but this area is also being reviewed. I haven’t seen any employer reaction to this as yet but here are some of my thoughts.
Private healthcare covers a huge range of treatments and options. Who is going to decide what the appropriate level of cover should be for migrant workers? They will still be entitled to accident and emergency services on the NHS but after that, will employers have any discretion as to what private healthcare they must provide?
Many of the migrants’ UK national co-workers will not have private healthcare from their employer. Only 15% of employees do according to the latest figures. This suggests discrimination claims to me as well as affecting existing contractual relationships.
To date, we’ve not been very good in knowing how many non-EU migrant workers there are. Even if this improves, the cost of policing this private healthcare proposal will probably outweigh the current cost of treatment on the NHS. I can’t say this for certain but there’s no evidence to suggest otherwise.
The more I think about it, the less I believe this is going to turn into a reality. If the government is unable to tell us how much this is all going to cost and what the net economic benefit would be, I won’t be changing my opinion.
If you employ non-EU migrant workers, I’d welcome hearing your views.