Medical Costs - Nevada

vigomcruz

Hi,
I had to go to hospital on a recent visit to Las Vegas. Unfortunately I forget to buy travel insurance (the one thing I do first when going abroad) and I bought it whilst on holiday after researching which companies allow you to buy once out of the country.

Before I went in the ambulance they explained that the ambulance would cost $1000, but I was in need of some help so I thought I could manage that - anything to help me get better. I was filling out forms in the ambulance and arrived at the hospital to more forms. The hospital asked me to pay a deposit of $1250 and said they'd either refund or charge me, depending on the final amount.

I spent around 2.5 hours in the medical centre and was grateful of their help. I believed the $1250 deposit was to cover the ambulance and treatment, oh how wrong was I !

I've since returned home in one piece and the insurance have said they will not cover me as I'd the policy while away and it takes 3 days to kick in. I was home within 3 days of buying the policy, therefore I accept their decision, but should I have been allowed to buy the policy in the first place?

Then I started receiving presents through the post.... The first was a bill of $989 from the separate Ambulance Service, then came a bill from the separate Physicians Department for $1145, then came the bill of $581 which was to do with the $1250 deposit I paid in hospital - (it was meant to be $4500!). I got a 40% reduction on the Physician bill as I didn't have insurance.

Although I've accepted the charges and will forever regret forgetting insurance (as I said, something I never joke around with - usually top of the list) - I was wondering if someone cleverer than me knew of some smart way of recouping some of this? I have a credit card with Santander, Natwest, Tesco and bank account with Natwest and Santander - in case this is useful.

Any help would be gratefully received - although I think I'll be gigolowing:money: a while to pay this off!!

Thank you very much for reading.

InsideInsurance

The fear of insurers that do allow mid holiday insurance to be taken out is that you will start feeling ill or have an accident so immediately buy the insurance and then trundle off to the ER and expect the insurers to pay hence they have the 3 day period that they wont cover for.

Some banks do offer free travel insurance linked to their current accounts so worth checking which version of accounts you have with both providers. Natwest certainly does, dont think Santander does.

Unless you are intending to go back to the USA, which they wont know anyway, their ability to recover the debt from you is very low. You could always use this fact to help negotiate down what you have to pay them.

huckster

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The fear of insurers that do allow mid holiday insurance to be taken out is that you will start feeling ill or have an accident so immediately buy the insurance and then trundle off to the ER and expect the insurers to pay hence they have the 3 day period that they wont cover for.

Some banks do offer free travel insurance linked to their current accounts so worth checking which version of accounts you have with both providers. Natwest certainly does, dont think Santander does.

Unless you are intending to go back to the USA, which they wont know anyway, their ability to recover the debt from you is very low. You could always use this fact to help negotiate down what you have to pay them.

I think you will find that the UK and USA have an agreement where medical costs can be chased to the UK. UK courts will look at foreign debts due to the case of Maharanee of Baroda Wildenstein [1972] QB 283].

If you cannot afford to pay in one go, you can normally negotiate repayments over a period of time. The foreign office can offer advive on this if necessary, as it happens all the time, where people don't take out Insurance. I have seen Travel Insurance claims in the US exceeding $100k. US hospitals take the p*ss.

PeacefulWaters

should I have been allowed to buy the policy in the first place

Probably not. Ask for a premium refund.

And don't put yourself in such a foolish position again. Next time it could end up ruining you financially.

vaio

Assuming you bought the insurance before you took ill then if the 3 days waiting wasn't made clear to you at the proposal stage then I'd be tempted to stick a complaint in with a view to getting them to pay the claim rather than just refunding the premium.

InsideInsurance

huckster wrote: »

I think you will find that the UK and USA have an agreement where medical costs can be chased to the UK. UK courts will look at foreign debts due to the case of Maharanee of Baroda Wildenstein [1972] QB 283].

Not saying they cannot chase the debt internationally but it is a ball ache and they are not going to be thrilled at having to do it for what, in US medical terms, is a relatively small bill.

One of the "issues" of the US medical system is that most of the clinics/ hospitals etc are relatively small corporations (not for profit or for profit) so they dont have the buying power of the NHS so in a small part, hence higher costs, but also means they can lack the central support functions to assist in international debt recovery etc.

I know a former client got a letter from a travel customer who's claim had been declined on the grounds of undisclosed pre-existing condition and they said that it was 6 years on and after a few letters they'd never heard anything more from the clinic about the $6k bill and so why do they bother paying the US hospitals etc.

vigomcruz

Thanks for the advice. I was organising for 13 of us to go and as I said it's the first time ever I haven't bought travel insurance. I've traveled quite a bit and will definitely not forget again.

vigomcruz

Thank you everyone for their replies. I'll try the suggestions.