OT: father is visiting and hospitalized by stroke

[Coronita]

[quote=bubble_contagion]My in-laws always buy insurance before visiting from abroad. My wife demands this from them to avoid the situation you just described. Travel insurance is very common in Europe. I guess they are aware that medical costs in the USA are very high and not covered by the goverment. My advise would be he pretends to be an illegal alien.[/quote]

This is water over the bridge, but I would agree with this comment. There are some companies here that sell visitor insurance too, particularly if the person/people are staying for awhile.

Sorry to hear about your situation. But try negotiating with the hospital/doctors if you start getting the bills.

[ocrenter]

foreigners routinely do this:

They go see a doctor in their own country, get the diagnosis and the treatment plan down.

the doctor then teaches them to describe their condition in more urgent terms. (for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.

I’m not saying this is what happened to your parents. nor am I saying it is their intend to walk away from debt unpaid from their treatment here. Just pointing out that thousands of people do this intentionally day in and day out and there is no legal action or collection attempts.

I also want to point this out to you. If the admission for the stroke was $5000, would you pay it? of course! And in most single payer countries that would be how much the bill be.

Instead, the $30k goes back as a loss and the insurance company use this loss to justify further increases next year on the rest of us.

just another story that illustrate how broken this system is.

[ocrenter]

foreigners routinely do this:

They go see a doctor in their own country, get the diagnosis and the treatment plan down.

the doctor then teaches them to describe their condition in more urgent terms. (for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.

I’m not saying this is what happened to your parents. nor am I saying it is their intend to walk away from debt unpaid from their treatment here. Just pointing out that thousands of people do this intentionally day in and day out and there is no legal action or collection attempts.

I also want to point this out to you. If the admission for the stroke was $5000, would you pay it? of course! And in most single payer countries that would be how much the bill be.

Instead, the $30k goes back as a loss and the insurance company use this loss to justify further increases next year on the rest of us.

just another story that illustrate how broken this system is.

[ocrenter]

foreigners routinely do this:

They go see a doctor in their own country, get the diagnosis and the treatment plan down.

the doctor then teaches them to describe their condition in more urgent terms. (for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.

I’m not saying this is what happened to your parents. nor am I saying it is their intend to walk away from debt unpaid from their treatment here. Just pointing out that thousands of people do this intentionally day in and day out and there is no legal action or collection attempts.

I also want to point this out to you. If the admission for the stroke was $5000, would you pay it? of course! And in most single payer countries that would be how much the bill be.

Instead, the $30k goes back as a loss and the insurance company use this loss to justify further increases next year on the rest of us.

just another story that illustrate how broken this system is.

[ocrenter]

foreigners routinely do this:

They go see a doctor in their own country, get the diagnosis and the treatment plan down.

the doctor then teaches them to describe their condition in more urgent terms. (for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.

I’m not saying this is what happened to your parents. nor am I saying it is their intend to walk away from debt unpaid from their treatment here. Just pointing out that thousands of people do this intentionally day in and day out and there is no legal action or collection attempts.

I also want to point this out to you. If the admission for the stroke was $5000, would you pay it? of course! And in most single payer countries that would be how much the bill be.

Instead, the $30k goes back as a loss and the insurance company use this loss to justify further increases next year on the rest of us.

just another story that illustrate how broken this system is.

[ocrenter]

foreigners routinely do this:

They go see a doctor in their own country, get the diagnosis and the treatment plan down.

the doctor then teaches them to describe their condition in more urgent terms. (for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.

I’m not saying this is what happened to your parents. nor am I saying it is their intend to walk away from debt unpaid from their treatment here. Just pointing out that thousands of people do this intentionally day in and day out and there is no legal action or collection attempts.

I also want to point this out to you. If the admission for the stroke was $5000, would you pay it? of course! And in most single payer countries that would be how much the bill be.

Instead, the $30k goes back as a loss and the insurance company use this loss to justify further increases next year on the rest of us.

just another story that illustrate how broken this system is.

[briansd1]

[quote=Eugene]

My mom had a situation of her own a while back (a surgery without health insurance) and I recall her saying that medical collectors are fairly toothless. I don’t know many details apart from the fact that she’s still “paying back” her five-digit bill at the rate of $30/month: $10 to the hospital, $10 to the surgeon, and $10 to the anesthesiologist. She has a house, a job, and some savings, and debt collectors could not or did not want to touch that.

So, it’s not true that we don’t have universal health insurance in this country. We do, it’s just remarkably distorted and dysfunctional.[/quote]

Yes, we do have “universal insurance” as you put it.

But you are “covered” only in an emergency.

You’re not covered if you have any condition that require ongoing or preventive care — care that would be much less expensive than an emergency room visit.

So you have people who walk around with tooth aches. When it gets too painful and when the tooth is all rotted, they run to the emergency room and get it pulled out.

You have people with STDs spreading diseases until they get sick enough to get admitted to the emergency room. The doctor gives them antibiotic and sends them on their way. No ongoing care.

[briansd1]

[quote=Eugene]

My mom had a situation of her own a while back (a surgery without health insurance) and I recall her saying that medical collectors are fairly toothless. I don’t know many details apart from the fact that she’s still “paying back” her five-digit bill at the rate of $30/month: $10 to the hospital, $10 to the surgeon, and $10 to the anesthesiologist. She has a house, a job, and some savings, and debt collectors could not or did not want to touch that.

So, it’s not true that we don’t have universal health insurance in this country. We do, it’s just remarkably distorted and dysfunctional.[/quote]

Yes, we do have “universal insurance” as you put it.

But you are “covered” only in an emergency.

You’re not covered if you have any condition that require ongoing or preventive care — care that would be much less expensive than an emergency room visit.

So you have people who walk around with tooth aches. When it gets too painful and when the tooth is all rotted, they run to the emergency room and get it pulled out.

You have people with STDs spreading diseases until they get sick enough to get admitted to the emergency room. The doctor gives them antibiotic and sends them on their way. No ongoing care.

[briansd1]

[quote=Eugene]

My mom had a situation of her own a while back (a surgery without health insurance) and I recall her saying that medical collectors are fairly toothless. I don’t know many details apart from the fact that she’s still “paying back” her five-digit bill at the rate of $30/month: $10 to the hospital, $10 to the surgeon, and $10 to the anesthesiologist. She has a house, a job, and some savings, and debt collectors could not or did not want to touch that.

So, it’s not true that we don’t have universal health insurance in this country. We do, it’s just remarkably distorted and dysfunctional.[/quote]

Yes, we do have “universal insurance” as you put it.

But you are “covered” only in an emergency.

You’re not covered if you have any condition that require ongoing or preventive care — care that would be much less expensive than an emergency room visit.

So you have people who walk around with tooth aches. When it gets too painful and when the tooth is all rotted, they run to the emergency room and get it pulled out.

You have people with STDs spreading diseases until they get sick enough to get admitted to the emergency room. The doctor gives them antibiotic and sends them on their way. No ongoing care.

[briansd1]

[quote=Eugene]

My mom had a situation of her own a while back (a surgery without health insurance) and I recall her saying that medical collectors are fairly toothless. I don’t know many details apart from the fact that she’s still “paying back” her five-digit bill at the rate of $30/month: $10 to the hospital, $10 to the surgeon, and $10 to the anesthesiologist. She has a house, a job, and some savings, and debt collectors could not or did not want to touch that.

So, it’s not true that we don’t have universal health insurance in this country. We do, it’s just remarkably distorted and dysfunctional.[/quote]

Yes, we do have “universal insurance” as you put it.

But you are “covered” only in an emergency.

You’re not covered if you have any condition that require ongoing or preventive care — care that would be much less expensive than an emergency room visit.

So you have people who walk around with tooth aches. When it gets too painful and when the tooth is all rotted, they run to the emergency room and get it pulled out.

You have people with STDs spreading diseases until they get sick enough to get admitted to the emergency room. The doctor gives them antibiotic and sends them on their way. No ongoing care.

[briansd1]

[quote=Eugene]

My mom had a situation of her own a while back (a surgery without health insurance) and I recall her saying that medical collectors are fairly toothless. I don’t know many details apart from the fact that she’s still “paying back” her five-digit bill at the rate of $30/month: $10 to the hospital, $10 to the surgeon, and $10 to the anesthesiologist. She has a house, a job, and some savings, and debt collectors could not or did not want to touch that.

So, it’s not true that we don’t have universal health insurance in this country. We do, it’s just remarkably distorted and dysfunctional.[/quote]

Yes, we do have “universal insurance” as you put it.

But you are “covered” only in an emergency.

You’re not covered if you have any condition that require ongoing or preventive care — care that would be much less expensive than an emergency room visit.

So you have people who walk around with tooth aches. When it gets too painful and when the tooth is all rotted, they run to the emergency room and get it pulled out.

You have people with STDs spreading diseases until they get sick enough to get admitted to the emergency room. The doctor gives them antibiotic and sends them on their way. No ongoing care.

[briansd1]

[quote=ocrenter]for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.[/quote]

If a patient has heart disease but is healthy enough to fly to America, what kind of treatment would make it worth the expense to travel here.

An emergency room visit/hospitalization is a one time deal. Doesn’t heart disease require ongoing care and monitoring?

Just curious.

[briansd1]

[quote=ocrenter]for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.[/quote]

If a patient has heart disease but is healthy enough to fly to America, what kind of treatment would make it worth the expense to travel here.

An emergency room visit/hospitalization is a one time deal. Doesn’t heart disease require ongoing care and monitoring?

Just curious.

[briansd1]

[quote=ocrenter]for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.[/quote]

If a patient has heart disease but is healthy enough to fly to America, what kind of treatment would make it worth the expense to travel here.

An emergency room visit/hospitalization is a one time deal. Doesn’t heart disease require ongoing care and monitoring?

Just curious.

[briansd1]

[quote=ocrenter]for example, if someone has heart disease but stable, they are taught to describe the symptoms in more severe ways, like, I am having chest pressure like an elephant sitting on my chest with pain radiating down my left arm and jaw).

The foreigner then buy a plane ticket and come over and have the taxi drive him/her to the hospital of their choice, present with the “emergent symptoms” and is admitted and treated. the foreigner then flies back home.[/quote]

If a patient has heart disease but is healthy enough to fly to America, what kind of treatment would make it worth the expense to travel here.

An emergency room visit/hospitalization is a one time deal. Doesn’t heart disease require ongoing care and monitoring?

Just curious.

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