To not give my address to this American hospital and to be fuming over the phonecall I received

[whysogrumpy]

Ok, I will try to be brief but I am actually shaking over the conversation I had on the phone earlier today.

Last year my dh and I went to New York. I was pregnant at the time and I had horrendous 'morning' sickness while there - in fact, after a whole day of being sick dh was advised by a dr on the phone to take me to hospital as I could have been dehyrated. He did so and I was put on a drip as I was dehydtrated and I also had a scan.

We had taken out travel insurance and, as happens in the states, a man in the hospital came and took the details of it before we saw anyone medical. I also had to give my name and address to the triage nurse and when I left my details were verified again.

When we got back we heard nothing further from our insurance company such as being charged an excess but I have never claimed anything on insurance before so don't really know how it works. Also, during the stay and for weeks after I kept bleeding and, as I also have 2 older dc, I haven't had time to ever consider whether I should have heard from the insurance company, and the incident took place last November.

Anyway, today I received a phonecall from the hospital. The woman said that she needed my address as there had been a fault with their computer and they had lost my insurance details and therefore had not been able to claim for the treatment I recieved. I said that I had given them those AND my address (and they had clearly not lost my phone number ) and she repeated that there had been a fault with the computer. I said that my insurance was a travel policy and I didn't know whether I would be able to claim on it nearly a year after the event and she apologised and asked for my address again. I ummed and ahhed a bit and then she snapped, "If you don't give me the details, your name will be given to all American airports and you will never be able to enter the states again!" .

I hung up at this point. There is no way I can pay a huge hospital bill at this point - we have 3 dc including a 3 month old and I am on mat leave. More to the point, why should I - I had adequate insurance and gave them all the details they asked for. I am upset by her threat but highly unlikely to ever afford to go there again anyway - if it does hold weight - does it ?

AIBU?

We were chased for 18 months for the cost of an X-ray in the US when DS had a skiing accident on a school trip. I kept referring them to the school insurers but they persisted in trying to deal directly with us. It seemed the school had not communicated with their insurers. They eventually stopped contacting me when I got arsey with the school about it. It sounds like the insurers are not talking to the hospital- did they know?

Unfortunately, the bill is yours and it's your responsibility to ensure that the insurance covers it. Nice if they do, but if they don't, you still have to pay - in principle.

However,if you are in the UK and they don't even have your address and haven't sent you an itemized bill, they don't really have a leg to stand on to pursue this debt. They can't bar you from the US, they don't have the authority to do that!

Probably as a courtesy (since you did incur the bill regardless of the hospital's administrative ineptitude) I would check with the insurance as to whether a claim was submitted, whether they'd settled the claim and if there's a time limit on the submission of claims. I'd still get the hospital to fax or email (don't give them your address) an itemized bill.

It could be that they're only chasing you for the excess on your policy or some co-pay which might not be much and worth resolving for your peace of mind.

If they're chasing you for the full amount (which will probably be stupid money knowing US hospitals) and it's too late to submit a claim because of their incompetence, write to them and let them know and then ignore.

If she calls again, ask her how much the bill is then tell her that figure is coincidentally exactly what you charge as an admin fee for giving out your address. Then ask her for her name and address and is she is willing to accept the admin charge.

You must have had a deductible with your insurance so should pay something to the hospital. Not with travel insurance, that's the kind of thing american health insurance has.

OP you owe the hospital this money. You should have contacted the insurance at the time. I know you and dh were probably worried, panicing etc. BUT when you take out insurance it tells you what you are covered for and what to do if you need to claim. You or your husband will have signed something to say that you would pay if your insurance didn't.

The US probably can ban you, did the hospital take any passport details? Flights to the USA cannot take off from the UK until all passenger information is sent first.

You can try contacting the insurance company and they may help. You also need to know how much the bill is, because they will be adding charges for tracing you.

If you are not happy giving details over the phone then write to them, include a copy of your insurance and tell them you were insured at the time and gave all the details at the time.

I believe it's actually fraudulent to take out insurance if you've not read and understood the policy - so you could invalidate your insurance by claiming idiocy ignorance.

She'll be on Interpol's list next.

A hard lesson for surprisingly many it would seem. The NHS doesn't operate outside of Heathrow - take insurance and do try and understand what the fuck it is you've signed up for. I'm stunned that anyone pregnant would go to the states without knowing what they were covered for...

But back to the original post. Let them write. And fgs phone the insurance company and tell them what's happened.

THE NHS has a surprisingly large list of reciprocal free healthcare agreements and not just the 27 countries of the EEC.

Just phone your insurance company.

I think travel insurance policies do usually cover pregnancy, but depending on policy some only go up to about 6 months. Obviously its best to check, and they might have a clause saying that you should notify them of your condition. However, if pregnancy weren't covered on travel insurance, it would be madness for any pregnant woman to ever go abroad.

They should also still be liable for covering your claim during the time you traveled - that is why you paid them a premium - there may be a time limit for making claims, but it certainly shouldn't be under a year, particularly if you hadn't received any details from the hospital.

There is no point calling the hospital back until you have contacted the insurance company. (And presumably the insurance company have a UK number, so the call will also be cheaper).

It all seems very odd. When i broke my arm in the US, I had to contact,my insurance company mysekf, then pay the bill before I left the hospital (credit card), and then claim it back when i got home.

I cant beleive you wouldnt check what was covered under your policy or what to do in,an emergency.

Of course you were I'll when you got there and in no state to think to read it, that's why you should read it before hand.

whysogrumpy: "No, I didn't read any of the bumph that came with the policy beforehand - why would I? tbh, I never expected to have to use it"

That's not naive, it is completely unreasonable.

What, so you don´t even want to pay the excess?? That´s good of ya . bet you were grateful enough at the time.

You should be contacting the ins company too.

Here is an example of what should have happened:

From Tesco

Question:
What should I do if I need medical attention whilst abroad?

Answer:
If the medical condition appears to be serious, you should contact the Emergency Medical Helpline as soon as you can for advice and assistance. This is a 24 hour worldwide service for real medical emergencies.

For any other medical treatment, you should pay any bills yourself and keep the receipts as this will help Tesco Travel Insurance deal with your claim.

If your policy begins with ?TT'-

• To call from Europe - 00 44 23 8064 4633
• To call from USA & Canada - 011 44 23 8064 4633
• To call from anywhere else in the World - +44 23 8064 4633

(Different dialling codes may apply from different locations Worldwide)

If your policy begins with a number -

• To call from USA or Canada - 1 800 667 8342
• To call from South America or Caribbean - 1 905 816 2585
• To call from anywhere else in the world - +44 870 024 2750

(Different dialling codes may apply from different locations Worldwide)

Isn´t it just tough luck on the hospital if they have lost the details?

Also, why would they not ask for the insurance details to bill them?

Haven't read the whole thread, just wondered if you had phoned the hospital to check whether or not this woman was genuine. You should complain about her if she was.

Complain about the woman .... Are you serious? She must have an awful job chasing people who owe money.

It sounds like the Op has messed up big time and potentially faces a huge bill. Hopefully her insurance will cover it but her dp should have looked at the insurance details. I have had to attend hospital in an emergency situation but one of the first things we did was call insurance because (almost) everyone knows how astromomical US medical care is. The op may not have an excess to pay first.

I hope it is a big mistake but she should call the insurance company and pray it is covered.

People in this country get pised off with health tourism ... The op may have inadvertently done the same thing.

Why is it the OPs fault if the hospital have lost her details??

Why is the woman making threats about non entry to USA??

It's not the OP's fault that the hospital lost her details.

But it is still the OP's obligation to pay for medical services received.

Two different things.

It seems both sides were at fault here, the hospital for losing her details and the traveller for not reading the basics about how her insurance works (most people ignore the small print, right or wrong but the basics are usually clear enough) anf not chasing things up when you heard nothing in the weeks after your return, common sense says your insurance company would need to check it was a valid claim and have some paperwork for you to fill in. It's understandable to object because of a lack of a bill if you didn't know something was due, like getting caught by a speed camera but not when you know full well you are getting expensive treatment.

The money is owed, the hospital are well within their rights to try to get it back and they can block visas/access if they don't get it.

Phone the insurance company and go from there, they may still pay out depending on various things, if you booked through a travel agent then contact them too. If not then you should write the/email the hospital to give them your address, fair enough to not give it over the phone but when you owe them money you do need to give them the address. Once you have the bill you can try to negotiate it because of the delay/loss of details.

Op should check if there will be any information sharing with credit reference agencies, or border authorities if she is not paying a medical bill, which is likely to be quite high, in the US, and what repercussions this have internationally in this day and age of global communications.

I never travel abroad without my policy details. My insurer is issuing a little card every year with phone number, policy number, and what to do in an emergency, etc.

I would not be surprised if the department of the hospital have set procedures they abide by, and now that the op has hung up on them, they go to phase 2, or something.

It is really silly not ready your travel insurance policy!

Maybe the hospital did not really lose her insurance details, maybe they just could not get their bill settled because the op did not read her policy, and did not understand that she should read her policy, and therefore did not contact her insurer to inform them they were to expect a claim from a US hospital.

Can you imagine how many criminal organizations would contact insurance companies around the world, pretend to be hospitals claiming money for bogus treatments, if they injured/sick policyholder did not have to inform the insurer about their situation?

The comment about non entry has some truth. Many many moons ago when DH was a young and naive backpacker he got clocked speeding in the states when in a hire car on his last day in the country. He was eventually tracked down via the hire company and was told there was a bench warrant out for his arrest on entry because he hadn't paid the small fine. By this time he was in indonesia Ten years later when we were wanting to take a trip to the states we had a right faff with the British embassy in the US trying to ensure that he was not arrested on entry. Took a few weeks and he had to pay the debt.

Huh. Why doesn't the NHS cover any treatment abroad? I thought that's why we were issued medical cards

Chicken, in the EU (I dont know about the US) you often need to show your medical card in addition to insurance, to show that you are eligible for treatment in a "normal" hospital, as opposed to a private one.

Yanbu. There is no way you need to give your address to any random that rings you up, or any other personal details. You don't know who they are. Even if they are who they say they are, they are BU to not know their arse from their elbow, what a hash they made of dealing with you at the time. Very odd how they still have your phone number and nothing else.

We have agreements with some countries that we will treat their nationals and they will treat ours but the USA isn't in that agreement. In countries where we have no agreement it is important to take out insurance to cover our care which is why it is often added to travel bookings and you have to opt out rather than opt in.

It can get slightly complex getting things sorted for an overseas trip if you aren't used to it, you need to make sure you have a grasp of the laws of that land (which sometimes seem quirky to us but nevertheless apply to all visiting the country), the rules about what you can bring in and out and in what bag and how your insurance policy works in various cases - probably other things I have forgotten too, it's been a while since I travelled.

I haven't read all the replies so apologies if this is being repeated, but... I've NEVER heard of any US hospital treating a foreigner without requiring direct payment as once you leave the country... Well, this scenario of "why should I pay".

If this happened the way you've written, someone somewhere made a big admin error and they weren't able to bill you or your insurance.

The phone call you received was most likely a debt collector.

She probably ONLY had your name and was calling everyone. Here's the bad bit - you just verified your identity to her.

Pretty easy to now get your UK address. I'd be expecting that debt collector bill now in the post.