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.

What country is he from? The Uk has reciprocal medical with some countries for example like Australia.

It’s not impossible to find travel insurance over 80, you just didn’t bother to look hard enough, this is just a consequence that you will have to pay.

If you speak to the finance department they may work out a payment plan for you to pay it in instalments.

I think they have - loads of people have said a) it's her dad's bill not hers. She's choosing to make it her problem and b) a payment plan should be feasible which is a really good idea.

What's hard to stomach is the idea that for some unstated reason the bill is unfair, which to be fair to the OP she hasn't overtly stated, but has been mooted.

Is 150% not 1.5 x the normal cost?

Does he have health insurance in his home country? He should be able to claim most if not all of that back

This is well known in the expat community. If you are not a resident in the UK the NHS will cover some emergency care but anything else you likely need to pay. Does Dad have private health insurance in the country he lives in? My US health insurance also covers me abroad. I do purchase travel insurance when I travel, you just never know I suppose! It is Dads bill, they likely will not debt collect overseas.

My son broke his ankle in Canada.
Had to Pay.
Hence he took out insurance prior to travel.

Why should UK taxpayers pay for people who no longer live here?

What if someone had a heart attack and would die without a and e treatment, and had no money to pay. Do you think that's what people deserve if they don't have insurance?

5 years ago I was working on a psychiatric inpatient ward. We had a patient in for over 2 months after he had a psychotic episode and was brought in by the police. He was from China. He was never billed for his long in-patient stay and the NHS even paid for his flight home when his (very rich) father came over to escort him back.

No one is suggesting people are left without help. It needs to be paid for. And if you can scrape together the money to travel you can afford insurance.

A payment plan should sort it. With interest

i do think that it’s a sad situation that an 80yo had to pay

can you articulate why you believe this @jlpth

I injured myself whilst in the states a few years ago, every time i turned the corner in the hospital i had to demonstrate my ability to pay, not unreasonably. The same applies here, the NHS is not a free for all across the globe. As an aside my 84 year old dad who has survived 3 different cancer episodes! Manages to get travel insurance

Health tourism is rampant, hence this is policed. Sadly your father didn't have insurance and was billed for using our service, just as we would be in a non-EU country if we fell sick there. He should have bought insurance, it is available albeit expensive. If the cost of the insurance was over £1000, he's 'up' by paying this bill, if not he will remember to buy expensive insurance next time

Because he'd have to go into debt for it

And since he's pretty old, he must have been scared that he was actually going to die with an episode like this

It just seems sad

If it's real

If it's real...

Why would you encourage that when the NHS is in the state it is in?

He should have been insured (as we should be if we go to another country where we don’t pay tax). He made a mistake, he should pay. And learn next time.

Just give your address and GP next time, they won’t check up.
This is a crime. It is your fathers responsibility to pay. I'm impressed the NHS has responded with a bill.

The NHS won’t turn you away from emergency treatment. But you may have to pay for some of it. Which is why you need insurance. It’s a gamble you take going to another country from your own and should be factored into travel.

I can't decide whether this was an entry into Goady thread of the year or a way to pay for Christmas. Either way, 'I don't think she's coming back'...

Of course he should pay. Not as if he didn’t know the risks. He did, and as a consequence of ignoring the risks, he is going to have to pay I’m afraid……

I find it hard to believe that there are still NHS hospitals who haven’t got a system in place for getting payment from health tourists.

Pay the bill.

I think this is a windup, but in case it isn't: if you can afford a three-month holiday, you can afford insurance and should not be risking not getting it.

Yeah that’s it, rip off and cheat the fucking system.

But @jlpth
If you go abroad, do you not consider the costs of the insurance when deciding if you can afford to go on holiday? It's always just something you do when you book the flight, you get insurance, or make a note to. And this gets more important as you get older, and thus the likelihood of needing it increases. I've never been on a holiday where I didn't buy holiday insurance, it's just part of the cost. It wouldn't cross my mind that if I broke my arm in say, Kenya, I (my insurance) wouldn't have to pay for my treatment.

Also, your analogy to a mum not being able to afford to feed her children doesn't work. Because in that case, you don't know as a responder how she got in to her situation, maybe it was no fault of her own whatsoever and it also certainly is not the children's fault. Whereas in this case, the father who could afford the flight, chose to take the risk and not buy insurance.