Anyone been ill in the USA ? or got insurance?

thedoc46

thedoc46

thedoc46

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Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone has ever fallen sick while on holiday out in the USA ?

I live in the USA, and my mum is currently here visiting from the UK. Anyway unfortunately she fell very ill today and was rushed into hospital. We don't exactly know what's wrong with her, but i'm sure they'll tell me in a little while. She's 70.

She sort of slipping in and out of consciousness, whilst we don't know for sure what's wrong with her yet, the doc kinda hinted at a possible blood clot, or bad stomach infection. Her white blood cells are very elevated. Anyway, i did get out of her that she reckon's she's got insurance. But she only apparently paid 100GBP for the yr. Which i have my doubts will cover much, given medical insurance for your average person here in the USA is around $350 per month.

The reason for this post is to find out what exactly happens to UK nationals who fall sick while visiting the USA. She doesn't have any assets here. Even best case scenario, if it turns out just an overnight stay and some anti-biotics, she's had every test in the world, including a CAT & CT Scan a few moments ago, and knowing how expensive the US can be for medical expenses, the bill will probably total around $20k. Anything serious, and this could skyrocket.

I don't think there's much they can do in terms of reclaiming the monies, given she's not got any assets here. I can't imagine her insurance is going to be paying out those kind of bills for only 100GBP per year. Or am i wrong about this? You lot who travel to America probably have some insight on this. What does the insurance cover? Before you say go read the policy. I'm in North Carolina, and the paperwork is in Florida. (where I live) We're actually on a little getaway, and took my mum for the trip.

Has anyone else fallen into this predicament, or know anyone who has. What was the financial outcome in terms of how far the hospital went to get their money back.

In america at the moment there's 50million un-insured, so this must happen to a lot of people. In the USA they normally declare bankruptcy, but for a UK national ??? That i do not know.

Any advice appreciated.
 
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If it's a regular multi-trip travel insurance premium then she's probably covered up to $15-20 million of medical expenses or thereabouts, the premium amount sounds about right.

However being that it's administered by an insurance company, be prepared to face any number of hoops to jump through in order to actually get at that money and hope that it's not to do with a pre-existing condition.

Without the policy details there's not really much more to advise.
 
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Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the cheap travel insurance not fully covering her in the US.
The coverage may state a year but it probably won't cover a complete 12 months, mor elite 6-8 weeks in total within a 12 month period. There are also common travel agreements between western countries that tend to cover medical expenses.

Fr the time being ignore the insurance and finance and concentrate on making sure your mum is comfortable. The hospital will probably demand insurance details at some point, would be good to get your mums details by then. Just the name if the n surname provider should suffice, phone them to find out what to do.
 
As to Americans that are uninsured, they tend to start some kind of payment plan Andre what they can each month effectively for ever. The hospital will come to an agreement on monthly payments based on salary, living costs, family etc. often are some number of years the hospital will just stop demanding payments, otherwise people declare bankruptcy and start their financial life again.

The biggest issue for the uninsured is long term illness like cancer, Herat disease rather than accidents and emergency illness. No one is left to die in an emergency but if you are diagnosed with cancer then you will have a battle getting treatment.
 
Does anyone know if the American hospitals can touch her UK money? This is about to get expensive, they're transferring her to the largest regional hospital in the state, for more specialized help.

She's a retired 70yr pensioner on a state pension, just visiting me. She has some UK savings.

Can they take this does anyone know. They'll come looking alright, but if she's not a citizen, and just visiting, what can they do?
 
If the insurance doesn't cover the cost I can imagine they will attempt to retirve their cost in the UK or come after you. Legally it won't make much difference that your mum is in the UK beyond making it harder. But if their charges a few hundred K or more then spending 50K on lawyers to force money out of your mum may be deemed viable. I've known people from Europe who got speeding tickets in the US and got the local law enforcement in Europe to enforce the penalty.


But seriously, if your mum has any kind of travel insurance then there really is no issue beyond the hassle
 
I wouldn't worry about it. If she says she has travel insurance, and she's paid over 100 gpb(around 150 usd) no then she should be covered into the millions.

The best thing you can do is find out who her policy is with, get hold of her policy details or call any family in the UK that night know the details.

The main thing is not to worry your mother or yourself too much. Get her well first then worry about it after.
 
Hopefully you didn't sign as the responsible party :p

Stick to worrying about your mum's health, finances really aren't an issue as it seems to me either she has insurance in which case no problem, or alternatively the only other feasible option is to eventually obtain a judgment in the US that might ding her credit report in the UK potentially but as a 70yr old pensioner I doubt that's a major concern :p

You should really try your best to track down that policy, especially if she needs to be transported back home for any reason. Most policies will pay for that and also many will pay out for any days spent in hospital to help with general expenses.
 
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Yeah, I can't emphasize enough, forget the money, just be there for you mum and help her any way you can. Even the cheapest student insurance covers millions in medical.

Just the name of the insurance company will suffice, when the hospital phones with the patient name then everyone will be sorted an the hospital will only do that when the patient is stable and ready to leave.


One thing to be aware of since this looks serious then she probably should travel soon so she may have to rest a while in Longer in the US. Even if she is let out tomorrow a week in bed probably helps etc.

Also the British embassy may beagle to,provide some information and help.
 
thedoc46 said:
Does anyone know if the American hospitals can touch her UK money? This is about to get expensive, they're transferring her to the largest regional hospital in the state, for more specialized help.

She's a retired 70yr pensioner on a state pension, just visiting me. She has some UK savings.

Can they take this does anyone know. They'll come looking alright, but if she's not a citizen, and just visiting, what can they do?
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No, they cant come after her UK assests.
All debts built up in the US stay in the US, they just screw you if you go back.

How do I know this? My folks lived over there for 10 years and knew lots of brits who got burned in the financial crisis.

They just loaded up their credit cards and used them to pay for the containers to take their stuff back to the UK and forgot about it.

http://www.ovlg.com/blog/what-happens-to-debt-and-judgments-if-you-leave-the-u-s/
 
Sorry to hear about your mum.

The insurance will most likely cover upto a very large amount in the several millions for a specific timeframe eg a 1 to 2 month period in the year she is covered for. I would strongly suspect that she is covered for far more than is occurring at the moment.

When I worked in the US it was common for the hospitals to not initiate all treatment necessary unless they knew they could get the money back. The don't necessarily treat everything like we do with the NHS then worry about clawing the money back from foreign nationals.

You do need to get hold of her insurance if you can and start the ball rolling there and I would advise that you speak to someone at the embassy or at the hospital who can advise you in this regard impartially - the hospital (the ones I worked in over there) had kind of an advocate service. You need to remember she will most likely need to recuperate and this will involve coming back to the UK - you need help with that etc.

So stop worrying about the cost and just worry about your mum.
 
100 quid is actually very expensive for travel insurance, so you can stop worrying about her having a cheap policy that doesn't cover much. If it covers the U.S. you are absolutely fine.
 
[TW]Fox;24541760 said:
100 quid is actually very expensive for travel insurance, so you can stop worrying about her having a cheap policy that doesn't cover much. If it covers the U.S. you are absolutely fine.
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Not when you are 70. Anything over around 65 and the prices jump. The main companies won't want to insure you. But even the cheapest polices have decent enough medical care as you say.
 
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You need to make sure you have logged it with the insurer right now.

I was ill 2006 and using my bank account insurance but paid everything on a credit card whilst there, their first response was no not covered as you didn't let us know.

It was only a couple of k but they eventually paid out.
 
Firstly I'm sorry to hear about your mum and wish her the best.

As above try to log this with the insurer now otherwise any treatment may not be covered. Insurers generally have to pre-authorise non-emergency treatment.

Also try to read everything you sign; you may be asked to be a guarantor for the payments.
 
Maybe its just climatising or getting used to the plane flight on the body? Might be a good idea to just do as little as you can in the US and get her on to a plane back to uk asap, if she does not improve. But if travel insurance can cover it then you should be ok, if not then it might get expensive.

Private insurance is ok if you are in the country and already paying for it, but if you depend on the nhs and then travel to another country the nhs doesn't help as far as i am aware.
 
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