Baby born prematurely abroad - any help with medical expenses?

donteatthat

I moved a year ago to semi-rural Berkshire and had to take proof of ID and address to register at the new GP so I think this is probably the norm all over now.

MissMoneypenny

donteatthat wrote: »

This isn't actually correct - in the UK the treatment will be given and the bill settled later.
There was a program recently on the SCBU at Liverpool Womens Hospital and a couple were admitted as the wife had their baby very early. They were from Iran I think. They didn't have insurance and were staying with family. The bill for the baby's care was £175,000. They contacted their embassy and their government agreed to pay.

I saw that. They were from Kuwait. They had entered the UK on visitor visas to visit friends, but stupidly didn't bother with health insurance.:eek: The wife went into labour at 25 weeks.

They said the husband was "hoping" their government "might" pay the 175k NHS bill or else his family and friends would have to raise the money. They were very emotional as the husband had to leave his wife and baby in hospital while he flew back to Kuwait to try to sort out their finances. It was the first time they had been apart since they were married. The good news was that it looked like their baby was surviving.

MissMoneypenny

euronorris wrote: »

it is fraud, but I still think it's very easy to get away with it in some cases. Particularly A&E.

Treatment in A & E is free for all (at the moment) as is the ambulance to the hospital. Anything after that is billed i.e operations, stay on a ward, aftercare. Basically, if you aren't allowed free NHS and get run over, they scoop you off the road and take you to A&E. Then when it starts to get expensive, you pay.

I wouldn't be surprised to see private companies taking over the entrance part of the NHS, to stop the fruadsters. This government are keen to return the NHS to the National part as it is widely abused. There are already new laws that are coming into force (next month?) for those that owe money to the NHS.

To get back on topic: I think the family might have to start some fundraising.

donteatthat

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

I saw that. They were from Kuwait. They had entered the UK on visitor visas to visit friends, but stupidly didn't bother with health insurance.:eek: The wife went into labour at 25 weeks.

They said the husband was "hoping" their government "might" pay the 175k NHS bill or else his family and friends would have to raise the money. They were very emotional as the husband had to leave his wife and baby in hospital while he flew back to Kuwait to try to sort out their finances. It was the first time they had been apart since they were married. The good news was that it looked like their baby was surviving.

Thats right Kuwait not Iran! In the final episode they had been told the bill would be settled by their government so the Dad was very pleased! I went into labour at 28 weeks and my god I would not go anywhere now after 20 weeks let alone abroad and definitely not without insurance!

euronorris

It would make sense for private companies to take it over as doctors and nurses need to be able to focus on their jobs, not whether someone is eligible or not. Not to mention the amount of money the NHS must lose through abuse of the system or non payment.

sallysaver

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Treatment in A & E is free for all (at the moment) as is the ambulance to the hospital. Anything after that is billed i.e operations, stay on a ward, aftercare. Basically, if you aren't allowed free NHS and get run over, they scoop you off the road and take you to A&E. Then when it starts to get expensive, you pay.

Thats really interesting. We have some American friends who were visiting the UK, he collapsed and was taken to hospital (central London) and was diagnosed as having a heart attack. He was quite poorly and needed a triple by-pass urgently which was carried out the same day. Not a penny has crossed hands and nor was it mentioned. Sally

MissMoneypenny

donteatthat wrote: »

Thats right Kuwait not Iran! In the final episode they had been told the bill would be settled by their government so the Dad was very pleased!

I only watched it last week and hadn't seen this weeks episode. Thanks for spoiling it for me:D

donteatthat wrote: »

I went into labour at 28 weeks and my god I would not go anywhere now after 20 weeks let alone abroad and definitely not without insurance!

Watching that programme, it's amazing how those early babies are helped. Some very sad cases too:-(

I won't even go to Paris for a day without health insurance and my EHIC card. It's just not worth the risk.

My sister (who now lives abroad) always has full health cover when she returns home to the UK for visits. Last time she was here, she was ill and was in hospital for a week. Their insurers paid the NHS for everything. None of that "will they, won't they, find out we are not allowed free NHS" when they had other things to worry about.

MissMoneypenny

sallysaver wrote: »

Thats really interesting. We have some American friends who were visiting the UK, he collapsed and was taken to hospital (central London) and was diagnosed as having a heart attack. He was quite poorly and needed a triple by-pass urgently which was carried out the same day. Not a penny has crossed hands and nor was it mentioned. Sally

It looks like he got very lucky, if it was a long time ago?

I have seen some threads on other sites where parents had accidents while visiting their children in the UK; needed an operation and stay in hospital and were then very upset to recieve their bill.

MissMoneypenny

euronorris wrote: »

Not to mention the amount of money the NHS must lose through abuse of the system or non payment.

To tackle the problem of the millions owed to the NHS, new laws mean the NHS now give the details of these people who owe over 1k, to the UKBA. They will not be allowed to remain in the UK or allowed entry to the UK, until they settle their bill.

I'm not sure what the government's plans are yet, to stop future abuse of the NHS: but I do know somebody who runs a company that stops health abuse/fraud in countries like the US and he is poised and ready if an NHS contract comes up.

FBaby

euronorris wrote: »

They don't have a decent system in place though to routinely check this.

It would be very easy for me to register at a GP in the UK, using my parent's address. In fact, I think my old GP may still have me on her register. I did ask her to remove me, but she said she'd leave me on there for a year just in case it all went tits up and I came home. No idea if I've been removed now or not.

But certainly with A&E care, I could go in, give parent's address and be treated. No questions asked if I didn't mention the fact I live abroad myself.

It's crazy, the system is widely open to abuse.

This is a dangerous lie to attempt. A few years back, we received an invoice from a hospital miles away for expensive treatment (hospitals charge patients PCT for treatment out of area). We thought it was odd that the patient would choose to travel that far every 6 months, so we contacted their GP to query why they could be referred locally. Got an innocent receptionist at the end of the line who informed us that the patient actually lived most of their time in Spain. They clearly thought they were clever, stayed registered with their local GP, and travelled back home, taking a trip to that other hospital to get their expensive prescriptions. Unfortunately for them, we investigated, refused to pay and told the hospital they would have to charge the patient directly. It came to over £15K for that period of time.