Dehghan Zaklaki, Roghieh;
(2019)
Access to health care for illegal migrants: ethical implications of a new health policy in the UK.
British Journal of General Practice
, 69
(679)
pp. 56-57.
10.3399/bjgp19x700841.
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Abstract
Access to health care for migrants is of immediate relevance in the UK following the Department of Health’s (DH) recent introduction of a new charging regulation for ‘overseas visitors’. In a stated attempt to maintain a high-quality, efficient, and progressive health system that is free to all British residents, the new policy demands payments even from those who cannot afford it: undocumented migrants and failed asylum seekers. In Making a Fair Contribution, the DH argues that, for the NHS to be sustainable, regular residents and those who have paid into the common pool must be prioritised. However, the notion of an equal input alone fails to guarantee a just and equitable allocation of resources in a decent society. Health, whether conceptualised as a ‘good’ or a ‘right’, requires a doctrine for its distribution. There are usually two dominant responses to migrants’ access to health care: services for migrants should be the same as those given to citizens; or migrants should only be provided with what is minimally sufficient. At its core, we are faced with a delicate question of ‘Who is obliged, to whom, to do what?’ These questions also highlight the important role human relationships play in our moral and legal ethics. In particular, this relational paradigm takes on special significance with regard to the duties and rights that play out between migrants, the government of a sovereign state, and the medical community. Framing the issue of migrant health in terms of our relational obligations highlights how vulnerability and the Rule of Rescue principle (RoR) create special duties within the area of migrant health. We also see why the professional identity of doctors is incompatible with the new migrant health policy.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Access to health care for illegal migrants: ethical implications of a new health policy in the UK |
| DOI: | 10.3399/bjgp19x700841 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp19X700841 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > SELCS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148575 |
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