ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ

Veelke Derckx will defend her dissertation on March 31 at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. She did research on the right to health care for illegally residing foreign nationals in the Netherlands.

Summary

Migrants without a valid residence permit (‘undocumented migrants’), yet staying in the Netherlands, like all other residents, have the right to the greatest possible degree of health and access to health care. This is agreed upon in international treaties, as the Netherlands joined several international treaties which guarantee such rights. The right to health care for this group, however, may be at odds with the immigration policy. The immigration policy aims at preventing illegal residence and therefore will not have full health care as an incentive for immigration. Undocumented migrants are, as a result, excluded from social services, including health insurance. This exclusion of provisions (the 'linking principle') is regulated in the so-called Koppelingswet (Linkage Act; 1998). Undocumented migrants do have a right to medically necessary care. 

This study examines, how the right to health care of undocumented migrants in the Netherlands is nevertheless adequately safeguarded. Based on court rulings, this study assesses, how the courts test the linking principle against international provisions and judges on the consequences of excluding undocumented people from health insurance laws. The study, furthermore, examines the bottlenecks that occur with regard to (access to) the provision of health care to undocumented migrants. The themes of financing and medically necessary care stand out as main issues. Finally, the right to health care for children without legal residence and the deportation of seriously ill foreign nationals to their country of origin are taken into consideration.         
    
Despite the fact that the linking principle has been accepted by the courts, it is shown, that the right to health care of undocumented migrants is under pressure for several reasons. This study shows that (access to) health care for undocumented migrants is in need of improvement and it proposes concrete steps towards more compliance to standards of international law.