Associate
Friend broke his foot and leg when we was out in cali about 10 years ago, when we got to the hospital we just gave them the insurance details and they dealt with it all.
Associate
Apparently medical costs are the primary cause of personal bankruptcy in the US
In direct answer to your question, no I haven't, but it is an odd one. If you have insurance, doesn't matter if it's minor or serious, just let the insurance co deal with it all (?)
One thing I became aware of with a recent trip is that with most insurers, if you haven't declared everything that's happened in the last two years that resulted in either a doctor/hospital appointment or prescribed medication, the entire policy can be voided for everyone on it. This can be as simple as not declaring a course of antibiotics.
I stumbled upon this as I have a pending MRI and son with an allergy and had to declare that, then went into a rabbithole of questions about all recent issues across all people covered.
Prior to this, i'd just used the bank insurance or bought a cheap one and assumed all was covered.
I stumbled upon this as I have a pending MRI and son with an allergy and had to declare that, then went into a rabbithole of questions about all recent issues across all people covered.
Prior to this, i'd just used the bank insurance or bought a cheap one and assumed all was covered.
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I hear of some hospitals being 'off-plan' and so you are personally liable and some 'in-plan' places will have some doctors that are 'off-plan' so again you are personally liable.
Caporegime
I wouldn't mess about if its really important ring your insurer and find out exactly what you are covered for making sure that also covers Ambulance costs etc. Every stupid little detail.
Then even then, make sure the actual hospital you might end up in is fully covered by the insurance. Obviously that will be something that can be deemed should something happen.
Does your insurance included repatriation?
Have a fun journey
I'm not going until next year; I just want to be fully prepared.
That will be a must!
Don
Your insurance will pay regardless I would have thought. I would assume by “off plan” it would refer to offering services financed by US government schemes.
Father in law took ill in USA with breathing issues/chest pain - Off to local medical centre (not really hospitals out there - all are specialist units) - He was in for a night - released after tests with medication for pneumonia. He had to pay for some of the medication there and then on his credit card, the rest of the stuff was immediately covered by his insurance (he just gave them details at the time he was admitted) - the rest of the credit card costs of the medication was claimed back when he got back to UK. I think all that was lost was a small excess of around £50 or something.
Total bill was around £5k but zero hassle with his insurance.
Commissario
I think that is mainly for people with US insurance plans, for holiday insurance I don't think it matters as unlike a US citizen you aren't expected to be able to pick and choose which hospital and doctor you routinely go it.
But that certainly does happen and it's an utter nonsense and nightmare that it's allowed to happen as I've heard of people getting bills for tens of thousands for going to their "in plan" facility and it to turn out the doctor assigned to them wasn't "in plan".
And yet many Americans are still convinced "Socialised medicine" is always terrible and so much worse.
Commissario
For UK holiday insurance yeah, but for US health insurance it's a known issue that many policies have specific deals with certain providers and anything outside of them can be "off plan", including if say the "in plan" facility has a temp doctor and can incur massive additional charges.
Basically it's a bit like over here if you go to a non approved repairer after a car accident, but with far few consumer protections and in some cases no way to tell in advance.
Soldato
This is not possible any more, the law was changed to stop it. https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/Ending-Surprise-Medical-Bills