NHS bill for £1000

[ladle4455]

My dad, 80, came for a visit from overseas from overseas for three months. He is fit and healthy but its impossible to find health insurance at his age. Anyway, there was a health emergency and we went to A&E. Waited for 7 hours but after 15 minutes of diagnostic tests (x ray etc but no medicines) was told there was no problem. was hugely relieved. I thought there was no charge as it was an emergency but have now been sent a bill for £1000. Apparently the charge for overseas patients is 150% (there times the actual cost) and the test was done by another department not A&E. Any advise? I have to sell my car to be able to pay as I don't want dad to have a debt over him.

You are lucky he was treated before payment was asked for. A friend got taken ill on a flight to somewhere in South America. The airport called an ambulance and the paramedics took her …….to a cash point ! She did have insurance so got all her money back but without payment upfront she would still be sitting in the airport.

WHY are people confessing to scamming the NHS?
It is for UK citizens, we pay for it. It is not a free service for the worlds population. WTF!!!

Just double checked with my parents and it’s right (Northants) - my father had a pre and post consultation plus MRI for just over £300.it was one section (lower back) and the price increased up to about £600 odd for 3 lumber sections.

Cracking idea, beats paying for travel insurance. 🙄

JUST PAY THE F....KING BILL!

Do you think he should have been treated for free? If you go abroad you buy travel insurance.

It's perfectly possible that, for a 3 month stay, "self-insuring" for an 80+ year old would be the cost-effective option, compared with what they might have to pay for adequate travel insurance. Depends a lot on their state of health and quite possibly also where they are travelling from.

My mother's return trips from Australia, from her late 70s onwards (2 or 3 altogether), were taken as a calculated risk without any travel insurance, on the basis that she had reciprocal health cover rights here, repatriation was not relevant (permanent return to the UK was the plan by then and has thankfully now happened) so the only risk was of something happening on the actual flight and stranding her part-way. But mainly on the basis that with a couple of things that had happened she was pretty much uninsurable. If something serious had happened to her over here when she was still planning a return trip to Australia, we'd have cancelled the return journey and found another way to pack up the family home.

@jlpth so my advice to the OP is to pay what is owed.

I have to add that I was beyond delighted when the lady who supposedly looked after our AirBnB in Sri Lanka came back from visiting family in the UK very disgruntled because the NHS had dismissed her condition as pre-existing and therefore not eligible for NHS treatment.

That’s way people have travel insurance…

Pay what is owed? Did you read that she hasn't got the money? And wanted advice?

@jlpth yes I read it. Dad could afford the visit. She has a car to sell

Crack on.

The posts on here are quite different when a mum can't afford food/presents for a kid. They don't say "well who did you think would pay for your fucking kid, just pay". They suggest how to help. The same needs to apply to the OP here. Not sure why people are rubbing salt into the wound.

That's her problem @jlpth . Maybe she could freeload in his domicile for free healthcare next time round.

@MonumentalLentil sorry I read your reply as though you thought I was telling people to lie, think it's been a long day!

As it happens, I disapprove of having kids you can't afford too.

Because she has the ability to pay?! Because dad was silly enough not to have insurance ?

What do you expect? Oh there there, here, have some freebies, the country can afford it?

Don't think so

I have no sympathy. He could have gotten travel insurance. As a foreigner he should pay for it.

And I'd add interest on the debt too

You simply cannot travel without insurance. A friend had a relative who had a car crash in the USA, no insurance. The bill was over a million dollars.

OP hasn't come back.

She's probably crying reading some of these posts

If he is fit and well as you say then he could have easily bought Travel Insurance. My Dad is 82 and had a triple heart bypass and has had a replacement heart valve in the last few years. His blood pressure is high and takes a lot of medication. He goes on holiday a lot but travel insurance is expensive, say £400. My Mum is 79, no health issues and also buys travel insurance.

You can’t really travel at the age of 80 without travel insurance. It’s really irresponsible. He needs to pay the bill.

A search of her user name shows that her opening post is the only one she's ever made on MN. Perhaps she has name changed. Who knows.

I am on a waiting list for an operation, which is around 18 months, I am in a position where I can go private at a cost of £8k and will because of quality of life.
not a resident in uk? sorry but you need to pay, I have through NI but am paying to get a quality of life!!!!!!