PSD and CDS propose restriction to SNS by non-resident foreigners

Oparties supporting the Government insist on amendments to the Health Bases Act proposing that, “by general principle, they should be considered beneficiaries of the SNS, alongside Portuguese citizens, also foreigners in a situation of regular residence on national territory or in a situation of temporary residence or residence in Portugal, who are nationals of Member States of the European Union or treated as nationals of third countries, as well as stateless or applicants for international protection”.

In view of the previous project, PSD and CDS-PP establish in the new text that, for citizens in an irregular situation or non-resident citizens in national territory, access to the SNS implies “payment of care provided under the law”, keeping the remaining wording: “or presentation of evidence of health care coverage, including by a third party legally or contractually responsible, as well as the presentation of documentation deemed necessary by the National Health Service for appropriate identification and contact of the citizen.”.

A new point is added where it is proposed that the law sets out “the mechanisms necessary for the identification of those responsible for payment, the collection of charges and, where necessary, the requirement of guarantee, early payment or other means of ensuring payment”.

Social Democrats and centrists make an exception in the restriction on the SNS by non-resident foreign citizens, proposing that this access be allowed in case of “emerging or urgent and vital health care provision” not dispensing, however, the “ posterior presentation of evidence and other necessary documentation”.

In the text, PSD and CDS-PP state that this initiative aims to resume the purpose of the presented in the previous legislature, interrupted due to the convening of early legislative elections, and that it ended up 'falling' the project approved at the time in general with the support of the Aquida.

“ In no way can the recent, but increasing phenomenon of the use of SNS by foreigners, mainly nationals of third countries not resident in Portugal, who move to our country, sometimes even in the context of illegal networks, for the purpose of accessing free health care and services or medical treatments reserved to legitimate users of the SNS”, reads the project.

The two benches cite a report from the General Inspection of Health Activities of November 27, 2024, in which it was concluded that “only between 2021 and September 2024, that is, in less than four years, about 330,000 foreign non-residents in Portugal were served in the hospital emergency services of the SNS, of which more than 140 thousand without the insurance or international agreements covering the assistance obtained, in a trend of clear growth”.

PSD and CDS-PP also hold PS and the remaining parliamentary left responsible for the current version of the Health Bases Act, considering that it contributed to this phenomenon by including among the beneficiaries of the NHS nationals of third countries and migrants, even without their legalized situation.

For the two parties it is concerned “to purge from the national legal system a politically wrong and socially unfair solution, in the interests of defending the rights of users of the SNS, the sustainability of the social state and the very social cohesion of the country”.