Spouse visa / Health surcharge

[lucydaniels]

I recently moved to the UK on a spouse visa and I paid the immigration health surcharge as part of my application. I've now started working and I'm being paid through PAYE - as part of my pay cheque, should I still be paying for the NHS given I already paid the immigration health surcharge?

[CR001]

No, NHS use is free.

The only charges you have to pay are for prescriptions, dentists and opticians.

[lucydaniels]

Thank you for replying.

To clarify: I'm being deducted for the NHS through National Insurance on my pay cheque, but given I already paid the immigration health surcharge, should I be?

[CR001]

Thank you for replying.

To clarify: I'm being deducted for the NHS through National Insurance on my pay cheque, but given I already paid the immigration health surcharge, should I be?

National insurance is mandatory for everyone who works and covers a lot more than just NHS use.

The immigration health surcharge and national insurance deductions are not the same thing.

https://www.which.co.uk/money/tax/natio ... 20benefits.

[lucydaniels]

Ok thank you.

[AmazonianX]

Your feeling is correct, it's like double taxation/payment for same thing

[THO]

If I was to fall over in the US and break my collar bone, how much would it cost me as a UK citizen to have it treated? I shudder to think.

If you fall over now and break your collar bone, why do you think that the few hundred £ you paid in tax so far will come anywhere near to covering the cost of your operation and subsequent after care? The NHS is a massive organisation that has cost the UK tax payer many billions £ to be able to give free, at the point of use, treatment.

That is why immigrants are expected to pay an IHS, which goes someway towards covering the costs of new immigrants health care when they enter the country, having never contributed to the NHS previously.

[ywlgy]

If I was to fall over in the US and break my collar bone, how much would it cost me as a UK citizen to have it treated? I shudder to think.

If you fall over now and break your collar bone, why do you think that the few hundred £ you paid in tax so far will come anywhere near to covering the cost of your operation and subsequent after care? The NHS is a massive organisation that has cost the UK tax payer many billions £ to be able to give free, at the point of use, treatment.

That is why immigrants are expected to pay an IHS, which goes someway towards covering the costs of new immigrants health care when they enter the country, having never contributed to the NHS previously.

I would rather pay less tax and get a good insurance or PAYG, than be on the wait list forever.

This is a purely money grabbing policy. Hard working immigrants should not pay twice for it.

[THO]

Wrong, they are not paying twice for anything. You seem to think that the NHS runs on thin air, the UK has previously been subject to a lot of healthcare tourists, and that has to stop. Why should UK tax payers prop up the costs of immigrants health care needs?

Oh, and BTW, my wife has to pay NHS surcharge before you assume it is not affecting me.

[ywlgy]

Wrong, they are not paying twice for anything. You seem to think that the NHS runs on thin air, the UK has previously been subject to a lot of healthcare tourists, and that has to stop. Why should UK tax payers prop up the costs of immigrants health care needs?

Oh, and BTW, my wife has to pay NHS surcharge before you assume it is not affecting me.

Working immigrants have already paid their income tax which contributes to NHS, so why ask them to pay another fee for using NHS? How on earth is it not double tax? People who can work but choose to live on benefits are the "healthcare tourist" and who you should be after, not those tax paying immigrants.

[ywlgy]

There are many other ways to raise money for NHS. But I assume ripping immigrants off is the easiest way because they are easy targets!

[secret.simon]

These forums are not here to discuss what an ideal or a correct (from our point of view) world or immigration procedures would be like. It is to deal with what is/the reality of the situation, and to work within them.

IHS is a ring-fenced source of funding for the NHS, paid for by immigrants making specific applications to the Home Office. National Insurance is paid by all workers who earn more than a certain income per week. Apart from the NHS, it also covers entitlement to things like the State Pension and plays some part in funding other benefits. The sets of people liable to pay the IHS and the NI are not the same. And for those in the intersection of the two sets, they pay both, because they meet the requirements of both.

It is irrelevant thinking what the taxes pay for. If you meet the requirements for paying the taxes, you pay them.

And taxes have nothing to do with the services that one uses. It is a community chest that everybody pays into, based on rules set by the community.

To pay differently, one can try to persuade the community to make such changes or one can opt to leave the community. But paying taxes is not a choice, if the conditions of the tax are met.