Travel Insurance File

More U.S. Hospitals Demanding Foreign Patients Pay Up.

More and more, American hospitals are demanding deposits from foreign patients admitted for emergency medical services, even those with valid travel insurance. The practice is particularly evident in hotspot international tourism destinations—Las Vegas being a prime example.

I have recently heard of several cases where patients’ spouses were virtually intimidated into signing credit card approvals for thousands of dollars just to make sure that if their insurer balked at the bill, or worse—denied coverage altogether, the hospital would get some money.

Despite a federal law that forbids hospitals from denying emergency care to anyone who needs it,  whether they have health insurance or not, there is no law prohibiting hospitals from demanding deposits or promissory notes for services rendered so long as they fulfill their obligations to provide emergency care.

If you’re faced with such a demand, first try to sort it out with your insurer and put them in touch with the hospital administration.  If you still need to pay up, keep your payment as low as you can and make sure you have your have a clear record to present to your insurer when the final settlement is made.  You want to make sure you get your money back.

The hospital people may tell you the emergency is likely to cost some $30,000, but the truth is the insurer would pay only a fraction of that in any case so don’t hand over a note for $30.000.

But why, when you have insurance, do hospitals persist in demanding payment from you? Because too often, if you are a foreign patient, they can’t immediately verify your insurance or what it covers and/or excludes. They don’t know if your insurer will pay the full bill, or only 30 cents on the dollar, or they don’t know if the insurer might even deny your coverage totally (for lying on your application, hiding a pre-existing condition, not telling the complete truth about your health). And if the insurer denies your coverage, hospitals have no one to go to for payment but you.  And they will.

American hospitals have very complicated methods of charging insurers for services rendered.  Most will give substantial discounts to those insurers who can steer big numbers of patients their way.  Domestic American insurers can do that.  But foreign insurers can’t.  They don’t have the numbers.  Yet many foreign insurers try to get the same discounts that domestic U.S. insurers do and hospitals say “No Way.”

As a result, many American hospitals, particularly in high density tourism areas, now routinely hand over any foreign hospital bill to professional collectors and leave it to them to get as much as they can using whatever tactics collectors are famous for.

Your best protection against this kind of intimidation is to have an appropriate insurance card, with your insurer’s logo and U.S. emergency assistance contact number imprinted on it so that hospital accountants can quickly and easily verify authenticity and extent of coverage. Carrying your policy with you can also be a big help.

What you should not do is fail to take insurance documentation with you.  Do not travel with only the insurer’s or broker’s telephone number written on a scrap of paper. I know many people who do that, and then they complain when a hospital in effect denies them what amounts to unsecured credit for what could be tens of thousands of dollars for medical services.

Though U.S. hospitals provide a lot of charity care, that’s not what they’re in business for.

Travel Insurance: What’s Under the Fine Print?

For Medical Emergencies only.
What is a Medical Emergency?
What Does Travel Insurance Cover?
What is Not Covered?
Are Pre-existing Conditions Ever Covered?
How Much Does Insurance Cost?
What About Those in Less Than Perfect Health?
How Much Will Insurer’s Pay?
Who Pays the Hospitals and Doctors?
What Types of Plans are There?
Do Expatriates, Employees or Students Need Different Plans?
Visitors to Canada Need Insurance.
Will Insurance Cover You in a War Zone?
Do You Need Insurance For Cruises?
How Do You Know Which Plan is Right For You?
The Whole Truth and Nothing But. The Risks of Non-Disclosure.
Trip Cancellation Has its Limits.
Buying Over The Telephone.
How To Save on Premiums.
Why Are Some Claims Denied?
What if Your Claim is Denied?
What if You’re Stuck With The Bill?
Why Do They Need Your Family Doctor’s Records?
Your Doctor Gives You a Clean Bill of Health. Then What?
How Not To Buy Insurance.

U.S. Health Care “Reform” Won’t Change Need for Travel Insurance.

If you have been reading or watching the debate about U.S. health care reform recently—and it’s been hard to avoid—don’t assume this is going to make any difference to your need for travel insurance—into or out of the United States.

For Americans looking for protection traveling abroad, or foreigners planning extended winter trips into the U.S., the need for substantial health cover will remain a top priority.

Even if a public, Canadian- style government health plan is implemented for uninsured Americans (which is a long shot), it’s not going to be available to foreigners and it certainly won’t force the prices international insurers now pay for health services down. It will more likely hike those prices.

And for Americans hoping for relief from high health costs, out-of-country travel cover is not in the cards in any reform package. Even now, the government-run Medicare plan does not cover medical care received abroad although some of the supplemental private plans that most Medicare beneficiaries buy offers some. (Read more)

Start Your Winter Travel Insurance Shopping.  It’s Time For Deals.

With the Canadian dollar climbing heroically, now is the time to buy U.S. dollars and salt them away for the coming winter’s vacation in the U.S. South, or even for other destinations in the Caribbean that trade primarily in U.S. currency.

Yes, it’s possible the loonie may climb higher, but if that’s what you’re waiting for you move from being a prudent investor to being a speculator.  Remember, things that go up, go down as well.

And there is no better time to start planning because many of your travel health insurance plans are already offering “early bird specials”—essentially, inducements to buy insurance at today’s lower premiums and not activate it until the season is underway in the fall or even in the winter.  These can be really good deals, but be careful.  You need to understand a few of the fundamentals. (Read more)