What happens if you can't pay medical bills? (USA)

[RedDeadReflection]

What happens, as a tourist, if you can't pay your medical bills?

I know as a resident depending on the state they can bankrupt you, seize assets, get priority during probate if you die, sometimes your spouse is responsible after that too.

But what happens if you aren't American? Assuming no (or poor) health insurance.

Reading about the woman who went to Florida without health insurance and has now been in hospital for five weeks. Repatriation not yet possible, and even if it was it's £130k. The gofundme has "only" raised £38k. If she recovers well enough to leave the hospital what happens? There must be a fairly robust procedure in place or nobody would get travel insurance if they could just walk out and fly home with no consequences. In this case the woman is a pensioner with few assets so I've no idea what they could do.

I'm 68,i have 2 different history A levels. I definitely know who Keynes was, and his theory.

I wonder why Disney Paris wasn't good enough. The weather I suppose. Free reciprocal healthcare with the European health card. Best option for those whose insurance is too costly but I realise the cost of repatriation is not covered. However it might be easier to get back from Europe, I don't know.

Travel insurance to the US is more costly than to Europe anyway I think.

I think that money hasn't been raised as she's elderly and has many health problems so once back in the U.K. may not have much longer to live anyway.

If it was a young person or someone caring for young children then I think more people would donate.

I would never donate when someone like her has wilfully chose not to take out insurance despite severe health problems and the trip was completely unnecessary given she had been over twenty times previously.

There was a mention of Clive on here a few days ago. I think he’s still being contrary.

She clearly has some money as she is going to Florida so often and ‘some people’ have already donated nearly £40k.

My friends late Father used to get travel insurance, say he didn’t have any medical conditions and then get drunk every night. On night he literally had to be carried back to the hotel. He had loads of medical issues!

He was very indignant that he was being penalised so he thought he would game the system. My friend said he might as well not bother if he was going to leave out key info.

What a stupid feckless thing to do. If I am
honest I suspect this very very foolish women and her family have done this before. They just haven’t been caught out

Seriously? What ever happened to personal responsibility? She didn’t like the quote she was given so despite prior health problems, she decided to travel without insurance. She has no one to blame but herself.

I expect they go for something like an attachment to earnings through the court and she'll have to pay something back every fortnight/month based on her income.

Disney Paris is nothing like Disney Florida but most of us make it a once in a lifetime trip complete with insurance rather than an annual visit without

18 years ago we ran up a bill of over £250k in the US when my DH was very seriously ill. We had to fight the insurance company to pay (which they did eventually) but we were advised that the hospital could pursue us through the courts in this country. It would have meant losing our house. I know we all complain about the NHS but in the US DH wore a wrist band and every member of staff who came into his room scanned it. When he was on the road to recovery the consultant would pop in every morning, look at his chart and say ‘you are doing well. See you tomorrow”. For that we were charge $800 every morning. Not everyone in the US has adequate, if any insurance. I met a taxi driver who was working two jobs to pay off his medical bills after a car accident. Many children die because their parents do not have medical insurance.

What If she doesn’t have an income and is on benefits?

The more I think about this the more annoyed I get. People can convince themselves they are being picked on or even discriminated against and then fool themselves into taking the ‘risk’ or maybe they think the British Embassy will sort them out should something happen. After all they don’t pay for NHS treatment and are a British Citzen.

Here is some further info

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14185103/Well-wishers-raise-14k-help-fly-home-Brit-grandmother-stranded-Florida-hospital-without-travel-insurance-struck-Covid-Disney-trip.html

Since it isn't taught in school it seems likely our education system is working as intended, but thank you for the important contribution to the thread..

No it isn’t. I have no interest in economics and not knowing who they are personally has not hindered my life in any way.

Exactly this. And it sounds like repatriation isn't funded and then claimed back, but to be paid in advance or authorised through your insurance (in this case, none).

I am also thinking we need to advertise more what really happens if you travel without insurance.

It isn’t a guarantee that these sorts of things happen to others

The British Embassy won’t pay the bill for you

You will be chased for payment

The NHS covers you within the UK. It doesn’t get you free cover outside of it.

This foolish women has been to Florida over 20 times. It’s not a trip of a lifetime. I guess she and her family just got greedy and wanted another trip. For goodness sake the women was using a wheelchair and had various breathing issues.

I know who John Maynard Keynes was because I studied economics at A level. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard his actual name on the news - they just refer to Keynesian economics or Keynesian theory. If you hadn’t learned about him, it might just as well be a theory that was developed in Milton Keynes!

Slight derail but what happens if you're admitted to hospital in the US in an unconscious state? How do they establish if you have medical insurance? I assume they would attempt to contact a next of kin. But what if the nok doesn't know the details. I mean, I might know that my sister has medical insurance but I might not know the insurance company/policy details.

Keynesian economics is (was) part of the a level economics curriculum and is very well known about, I could summarise but won't

Anyone reading this thread without insurance for upcoming holidays buy some now! And declare all preexisting conditions including drs visits for minor stuff eg ear ache or sore throat. We have ours through dh's bank, £10 a month and includes travel, gaskets, breakdown and a few other things

Yes, I am in a Facebook group for people with my rare condition and quite lot are in the US.
It's heartbreaking seeing the pressures they are under. For a lot, their insurance is tied to their job so they have to carry on working even when too ill or they lose their insurance.

There was a lady posting frantically the other day because her husband has been offered a new job that is what he really wants to do, but if he takes it then it will mean a change of insurance company and the new one won't cover the particular treatment that works for her.

There was someone who went to buy medication to find that it cost them $1000 for that month's supply instead of the $500 it had previously

And this is all just from the last few days of posts.

It's a bonkers system that leaves you hugely vulnerable if you get a chronic and serious condition, even if you were pretty affluent. I can work from home and take sick days when I need to, but most people with my condition, certainly those in more physical jobs, really struggle to work.

Lurking on thread as DP and I are looking for new travel insurance following cancer diagnoses and realising how limited our options will be for the next few years (both cancers are very treatable and not terminal).

De-lurking to say - me nearly 50, did GCSE Business Studies at grammar school so have heard of Keynesian economics (rather than JMK) but would need to google to refresh my memory.

My DS is mid 20’s gets insurance and it’s as cheap as chips. As you get older with potentially some health conditions you need to accept it gets more expensive and quite honestly I am sick of people who think they can get something for nothing.

@Taytocrisps

Hospitals in the USA have to abide by covenants to treat first in emergencies. They vary in type, some are publicly owned (often these are the ones used for higher level emergency too), some not for profit and even the for profit ones have charitable programmes for this scenario if the person doesn't pull through and didn't have insurance. We had insurance cards we carried in our wallets but I suspect they are on your Apple wallet now.

Militant. Try Insurancewith. They cover cancer.

Be prepared to make a least a 1 hour phone call. Dont try and do online.

Thanks for your response @mitogoshigg

No it doesn't.