Travel Insurance Claim Problem

beancounter1968

Hi
I’m not quite sure if I am posting to the correct forum.

My Dad went on a cruise for his 80th birthday in July. Unfortunately, he was taken ill with an allergic reaction to something whilst the ship was in port in Spain and which led to him being admitted to hospital overnight. Fortunately, the ship was in port for two days and he was able to re-board after he had been discharged. He was given some medication
He asked me to make a claim when he got home and I was horrified that the hospital had given him a receipt for 1,500 euros which they had charged to his credit card. I l made the claim to the insurance company – RightPath with the various receipts (ships doctor, taxi etc) I had and the referral letter from the ships doctor.
The insurance company has come back and said that they we need to get an itemised bill from the hospital before considering the claim. I kind of understand this because I think that the hospital took advantage of an 80-year-old man and blatantly ripped him off. I have tried to contact the hospital without any luck along with the Spanish Embassy and the British consulate in the resort. None of these have come back to me with any information.
I’m now at the point where I don’t know what to do and the insurance company are just going to walk away. My dad made full disclosure of all his pre-existing conditions prior to departure and paid a premium in excess of £700. The allergic reaction in this instance was unconnected to any of these pre-existing conditions.
Any thoughts on how I may break this deadlock will be most appreciated.

Thanks for reading

BorisThomson

How have you tried to contact the hospital, is their phone not working?

What is the name of the hospital?

beancounter1968

BorisThomson wrote: »

How have you tried to contact the hospital, is their phone not working?

What is the name of the hospital?

It was the Clinica Parque San Antonio and once we got over the language barrier, they would not disclose anything. I also emailed them but have had nothing back

gettingtheresometime

beancounter1968 wrote: »

It was the Clinica Parque San Antonio and once we got over the language barrier, they would not disclose anything. I also emailed them but have had nothing back

I'm wondering could it be that they are not replying because the email was in English & they can't be bothered/asked to get it translated.


Is there anyway that you could get the contents of the email translated into Spanish as well as your dad giving permission for them to release the details?

Voyager2002

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

I'm wondering could it be that they are not replying because the email was in English & they can't be bothered/asked to get it translated.


Is there anyway that you could get the contents of the email translated into Spanish as well as your dad giving permission for them to release the details?

I am able and willing to translate the email into Spanish. I must say, I am sure that the people at the hospital understand sufficient English to grasp the situation (and of course have access to Google translate) so I suspect that this is a rip-off. I would suggest going back to the card company and requesting a charge-back.

gettingtheresometime

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I am able and willing to translate the email into Spanish. I must say, I am sure that the people at the hospital understand sufficient English to grasp the situation (and of course have access to Google translate) so I suspect that this is a rip-off. I would suggest going back to the card company and requesting a charge-back.

I've no doubt that their grasp of English is very good but you know how lazy some people can be !

beancounter1968

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

I'm wondering could it be that they are not replying because the email was in English & they can't be bothered/asked to get it translated.


Is there anyway that you could get the contents of the email translated into Spanish as well as your dad giving permission for them to release the details?

Hi


I used a translate app to send the original email so they probably got something in rough Spanish.

leylandsunaddict

I wouldn't say €1500 was taking advantage of an 80 yr old man, or a blatant rip off. It sounds reasonable enough for an overnight stay with meds in a private Spanish hospital.

Manxman_in_exile

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

I wouldn't say €1500 was taking advantage of an 80 yr old man, or a blatant rip off. It sounds reasonable enough for an overnight stay with meds in a private Spanish hospital.

I wondered about that too.


For the benefit of future readers, what should the OP's father have done in this situation? Assuming he had an EHIC, should he have insisted on Spain's NHS equivalent? Or if that was going to take too long (an emergency) got prior approval from his insurer? Or if not prior, while he was still in hospital?


Not sure if father was travelling alone but if so this would have been very difficult to sort out at the time.

beancounter1968

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

I wondered about that too.


For the benefit of future readers, what should the OP's father have done in this situation? Assuming he had an EHIC, should he have insisted on Spain's NHS equivalent? Or if that was going to take too long (an emergency) got prior approval from his insurer? Or if not prior, while he was still in hospital?


Not sure if father was travelling alone but if so this would have been very difficult to sort out at the time.

I can confirm he was travelling alone and he would never have thought to do things by the book as the situation was developing

hollydays

It concerns me that he’s not got the ok from the insurance company first. I’m always worried that if I didn’t do this they wouldn’t honour the claim? Maybe I worry too much.