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.

We were just discussing this at home, what happens when staff retire, do they have to buy separate medical insurance?

It's just madness to go overseas with no decent travel insurance in place.

Anyway, well done for starting this thread OP. No harm to remind people about the importance of having good travel insurance.

I went to Florida years ago and our travel agent advised us that we would need to pay for travel insurance and she included it as part of the package. We didn't really understand why (at the time) but we went along with it. But I guess with people booking their own flights and accommodation, it's something that people could overlook. Although it sounds like the lady in question didn't overlook it - she knew exactly how much it would cost but opted not to pay.

Presumably the only option would be for the patient to agree a payment plan and contribute a small amount monthly probably for the rest of their life. With the best will in the world, its likely most people would never pay off the full amount because the costs are so high. If they treat the patient and they live, at least they get something back.

It’d not really named after him, it’s called that because he developed the theory.

I really want to say something here....but it would be even more of a derail than this entire thread which now seems to be about US travel insurance, Keynesian economics and Milton Keynes

In the spirit of new year I really want you to say it 😂

I read that she had been to Disneyland something like 20 times…she knew exactly what she was doing and the risk she was taking. Frankly I don’t think people should be able to fly without insurance- should be a requirement. They will presumably try to make her family pay, or bankrupt her. With all her health problems it was insane to go without insurance.

You make it sound like you only need travel insurance for Florida and not on absolutely any trip.

I absolutely agree, but what's done is done now. My main questions were around the consequences because if she isn't a homeowner and is only collecting a state pension and widows pension bankruptcy isn't exactly a huge deal for her. And I can't see them being able to make her family pay, I expect if they want to pursue the debt in the English courts then the English legislation would apply so couldn't force family members to pay like they can't in some US states.

I know that if you’re a resident it passes to your spouse then your children if you die - this happened to a friend’s sister when her husband died. He’d eked out his heart medication because of the cost, his condition worsened and he died.
He owed $$$$$$

This thread has been very funny, OP. The Keynes derail really made me laugh.

I wasn't sure we'd ever get it back on track to be honest!

I didn't grow up in a wealthy family and didn't travel abroad in my childhood/teens. So the trip to Florida (as a young adult) was the first time I encountered the need for travel insurance. That's why it registered with me.

I think so. Certainly from the posts I see in our Facebook group there are lots of people worrying about retirement /having to stop work due to ill health and what that means for their insurance cover.

And of course you need travel insurance for every trip. I mean, Ireland's a safe country, right? What could possibly go wrong on a holiday in Ireland?

Two US tourists die in jaunting car accident

I went to an all-singing all-dancing private school in the 90s and I don’t think I’d heard of Keynes till I studied economics A level. I think maybe Keynesian economics was mentioned when we studied the New Deal in the US in GCSE history. But if you didn’t study either of those, I think it’s possible not to have heard of Keynes.

It went ‘out of fashion’ in the 70/80s when people wanted to roll back government spending, in favour of monetary policy which is when things like interest rates are raised or cut to essentially manage demand, manage inflation (very simply). I had to Google that much so not professing to know it all.

I think you can be aware of this stuff without the finer details. Anyway, no insurance in the US …

As someone who has lived in Milton Keynes all their life, is mid 40s and had no idea who JMK is, I did laugh at the suggestion our city was named after him.

We are named after the village milton keynes which dates back to the 11th century (with Keynes added a century later) not after some economist! Haha

Anyway, re the old lady. I'm sure I read she lives in a council house and lives off benefits. 2 of her 3 kids are unemployed so no money to pay anything off. Although, I wonder if she will just end up dying in America as I can't imagine how they will afford to get her home..

Yeah I don't know the details. I thought she'd paid for health insurance to cover her in Canada but I don't know how it worked. She didn't need it anyway.

I can understand why people are saying that the uninsured lady deserves everything she gets but I think that's a harsh stance to take.
I think health insurance should be compulsory if you go to other countries, we should make sure that these situations don't happen and can't happen.

You did very well. Maybe your truculence helped you.

I snorted 😂

Never heard of him. Ever.

We learnt in geography. Not that it helped me much, I can still get lost in a paper bag.

Isn’t it just the difference between being well-read and not?
Many people read voraciously; fiction and non-fiction, currant affairs, quality newspapers etc. We know who Keynes is.

Saying ‘well I’ve never heard of him’ just shows ignorance. If I come across a word, person or idea that I am unfamiliar with I research it, to learn.