The Department of Health has announced the NHS will charge migrants and overseas visitors for their care plus an extra 50% with a health surcharge for temporary migrants.
Some patients from outside Europe using the NHS will be charged 150% of the cost of treatment under new incentives for the NHS to recover costs from visitors and migrants using the NHS.
Visitors and migrants can currently get free NHS care immediately or soon after arrival in the UK.
But now the government is asking the NHS to clamp down by identifying these patients more effectively so costs can be recovered from them.
The Department of Health estimated by the middle of the next parliament, the NHS will recover up to £500 million a year from treating foreign visitors and migrants.
In June, it was revealed that the NHS will receive an extra 25% on the top of the cost of every procedure they perform for an EEA migrant or visitor with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).
The government has revealed how the reforms will be rolled out for the next 2 years. A non-EEA visitor will be charged for their care plus an extra 50%. This means that for a £100 procedure, they could be billed up to £150.
For those who are temporary migrants from outside the EEA and are here for longer than six months, a new health surcharge will be applied when they submit an application for leave to enter or remain in the UK. This surcharge could generate up to £200 million per annum in the future, government said.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "We have no problem with international visitors using the NHS as long as they pay for it - just as British families do through their taxes. These plans will help recoup up to £500 million a year, making sure the NHS is better resourced and more sustainable at a time when doctors and nurses on the frontline are working very hard."
Financial sanctions will also be put in place for trusts who fail to identify and bill chargeable patients.
Meanwhile, options for recovering the costs of primary care services are also being explored. Eligibility to free NHS prescriptions, optical vouchers and subsidised NHS dental treatment will also be tightened.
The EEA incentive scheme will be introduced in autumn 2014. The non- EEA incentives will begin in spring 2015.
Dr Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association Council said:
"Anyone accessing NHS services should be eligible to do so but a doctor's duty is to treat the patient that's in front on them, not to act as border guard. Any plans to charge migrants and short term visitors need to be practical, economic and efficient and must not jeopardise access to healthcare for those who need it.
"Without more detail, there are question marks over whether or not these proposals will be workable and if the NHS has the infrastructure and resources necessary to administrate a cost-effective charging system. Plans to fine hospitals who fail to recoup costs would see them punished twice over, to the detriment of other services.
"Above all, it's vitally important that these proposals don't have an impact on the care patients receive and that sick and vulnerable patients aren't deterred from seeking necessary treatment, which can have a knock on effect on public health."
