NZ counts potential cost of World Cup
Many of the thousands of foreign fans heading to New Zealand (NZ) for this year’s Rugby World Cup will be from Britain and Australia, and as both of these countries have reciprocal health agreements in place with NZ, there are concerns among health authorities that the Kiwi taxpayer will foot the bill for the medical needs of foreign fans. Sarah Watson reports The reciprocal health agreements take precedence over travel insurance policy arrangements, meaning that hospitals – public and private – are not able to recover the costs incurred from treating foreign patients from their insurers. Visitors from countries that do not have agreements in place will be billed for their care, with district health boards believing that most costs could be recovered either through insurance or debt repayments. A briefing document released by the Hutt Valley District Health Board has warned of the potential impact that could be felt as a result of the estimated influx of 80,000 foreign tourists, some of whom will almost inevitably need some kind of medical assistance during their visit. The document states: “It is likely that many of these visitors will reside in countries which have reciprocal health agreements with NZ. Whilst it must be hoped that others will have appropriate health insurance, it is likely that many will default on payments, at least as often as occurs normally. Both these scenarios represent increased activity without attached revenue.” Auckland District Health Board, which is likely to handle the majority of any medical cases, has said that although there could be an increase in tourists requiring medical attention, the board expects to recover most of what it will be owed. Rosser Thornley, group accounting manager at the board, said: “We’ve certainly got it on the radar. We expect that the volume [of bills] will be higher than usual, but if we put a bit more [debt collecting] resources in, then we’d hope to recover more costs.” According to governmental figures, around 80 per cent of the debt owed by foreigners to the NZ health system was paid in 2010, but this takes in the entire country, and some district health board will have lower payback rates than others, explained Thornley, adding: “Those that don’t have such good processes may find that there’s a cost to them.” Greg Phillips, emergency management service leader of the Capital and Coast District Health Board, said his own board did not expect a noticeable increase in unpaid debt as a result of the rugby competition: “We talked about it, and the feeling was that the overseas visitors we’d expect would be well-behaved and well-insured.” In 2009-2010, the latest year for which figures are available, district health boards in NZ wrote off around $8 million in debt owed by non-residents. Although most did not break down their debt into countries, among those that did, figures showed that around $2.3 million was spent treating British and Australian tourists.
Many of the thousands of foreign fans heading to New Zealand (NZ) for this year’s Rugby World Cup will be from Britain and Australia, and as both of these countries have reciprocal health agreements in place with NZ, there are concerns among health authorities that the Kiwi taxpayer will foot the bill for the medical needs of foreign fans. Sarah Watson reports
The reciprocal health agreements take precedence over travel insurance policy arrangements, meaning that hospitals – public and private – are not able to recover the costs incurred from treating foreign patients from their insurers. Visitors from countries that do not have agreements in place will be billed for their care, with district health boards believing that most costs could be recovered either through insurance or debt repayments.
A briefing document released by the Hutt Valley District Health Board has warned of the potential impact that could be felt as a result of the estimated influx of 80,000 foreign tourists, some of whom will almost inevitably need some kind of medical assistance during their visit. The document states: “It is likely that many of these visitors will reside in countries which have reciprocal health agreements with NZ. Whilst it must be hoped that others will have appropriate health insurance, it is likely that many will default on payments, at least as often as occurs normally. Both these scenarios represent increased activity without attached revenue.”
Auckland District Health Board, which is likely to handle the majority of any medical cases, has said that although there could be an increase in tourists requiring medical attention, the board expects to recover most of what it will be owed. Rosser Thornley, group accounting manager at the board, said: “We’ve certainly got it on the radar. We expect that the volume [of bills] will be higher than usual, but if we put a bit more [debt collecting] resources in, then we’d hope to recover more costs.” According to governmental figures, around 80 per cent of the debt owed by foreigners to the NZ health system was paid in 2010, but this takes in the entire country, and some district health board will have lower payback rates than others, explained Thornley, adding: “Those that don’t have such good processes may find that there’s a cost to them.”
Greg Phillips, emergency management service leader of the Capital and Coast District Health Board, said his own board did not expect a noticeable increase in unpaid debt as a result of the rugby competition: “We talked about it, and the feeling was that the overseas visitors we’d expect would be well-behaved and well-insured.”
In 2009-2010, the latest year for which figures are available, district health boards in NZ wrote off around $8 million in debt owed by non-residents. Although most did not break down their debt into countries, among those that did, figures showed that around $2.3 million was spent treating British and Australian tourists.