Oop's correct it is us pensioners. Sorry

So you have two things to do
1. Write to the hospital asking them to review the bill with a view to reducing it bearing in mind that only the overnight, not the A+E part should be charged.

2. Get your son a British passport to which he is entitled being your natural son provided you - yourself - are British other than British solely by descent. If you are British born or British naturalised then your son will be (at least) British by descent.

As an aside, it is really stupid that they don't endorse passports "British by descent" or "British other than by descent" on the passport itself now that there are two classes of British citizenship. To save people have to prove things decades later that were already proven decades earlier.

I would argue that her 3 year old son was admitted by the doctor and that the OP has no medical background and thus went along with the doctor's advice.

Getting a UK PP is a good idea...but it does not entitle anyone to free NHS care.

This hasn't been my experience with US-based insurance. For example, my current insurance treats it as an out of network claim and pays 80% after its $200 yearly "out of network" deductible. My daughter made a claim for GP, lab test and prescription costs in Sweden on this basis.If it's a true emergency - "threat to life or limb" - it treats it just like a US emergency. It also pays for repatriation, if needed, although I think this is a much rarer benefit. This is one of the reasons I don't take out travel insurance.

I've visted an NHS GP once since I've lived in the US. I offered to pay, but the doctor declined to charge me. I'm glad to hear that the NHS finally is getting its act together about charging.

You still wouldn't be charged for a GP. That care remains free.

Thanks for letting us know. They said they were planning that at some stage; I didn't realise they had been so quick at bringing it in.

There is no free stay on a ward because it is an emergency. That is a myth. People must buy insurance because if they don't have it, in the UK they will get billed at 150% of the NHS costs.

This seems to be the latest for 2015.
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...tions_2015.pdf




Question and answers

Q: Is emergency treatment free to all?

A: No. Only A&E services that are provided prior to an overseas visitor being admitted as an inpatient are free to all. Inpatient services and outpatient appointments are chargeable.




No different to the NHS rules before 6 April 2015. When my Canadian/UK sister was visiting a few years ago, her insurance paid the NHS bill for a stay on a ward after she suddenly needed emergency treatment. Her treatment in A&E was free, but once they admitted her to a ward she paid for everything, or rather her insurers did.



Then we have to remember that even the free treatment that is allowed at present in A&E for all, may not continue to be free in NHS England according to all the reports last year. Time will tell.

It has only be free for a consultaion with a GP or nurse since 6 April 2015, but any treatment, tests, medication must be paid for in full at the non-NHS prices.

Before that the GP could decide whether to bill or give free treatment at their surgery, but medication had to be paid for at the full non-NHS price.

Three years ago when we were on holiday in Derby my husband was admitted into hospital and had emergency surgery ...we were told in the emergency room that we would be charged ... he was in ICU for six days then moved to a regular ward for a further 10 days. We were given a ballpark figure during this time of what it would cost.

As it turned out we weren't charged because it was revealed in a form we filled out that he worked in UK for 25 years and he received two pensions.

I have to add that I was really impressed and in awe with the care he got at The Derby Royal Hospital and the general professionalism of the staff and the cleanliness of the place compared to the hospitals here.

Only if the Brits want free healthcare in the UK.

If they want free healthcare in another EEA country that they have retired to, then that EEA country does not pay for them. The UK will only pay for the healthcare of our expats in another EEA country if they are retired in that EEA country AND are in receipt of a UK state pension. If they are retired and don't receive a UK state pension then they need to buy insurance to pay for their own healthbills in that EEA counrty.

The UK changed this recently. Before, any Brits who retired to another EEA country could get the UK to pay their healthbills even if they weren't in receipt of a UK state pension. Since the UK changes, this group now have to buy their own health insurance.

No, its not. That is a myth.

Because emergency NHS treatment is not free for all. Nothing to do with it being non-urgent or an emergency. Emergency treatment in A&E is free, but once admitted to a ward they are billed from then onwards. Most emergencies are admitted to a ward from A&E while they await their emergency operation later that day but they will be billed for that operation too. They don't get any operations for free even if it is an emergency.

The only difference is the UK now checks who has to pay, whereas before they didn't and many got away with not paying the NHS when they should have paid.

It was the bed on a ward with all medical care from staff, all the treatment he received once admitted to a ward, any medication on the ward, medication for him to take away, any treatment he received as an outpatient. Then the hospital bill the OP at 150% of the NHS costs as she didn't have any health insurance.

One person on another site recently said his fathers NHS bill for emergency treatment for a stroke while visiting the UK, was in the 30 thousands. On that One Born Every Moment programme, one couple were billed 100,000k by the NHS for the early arrival of their baby and for the care their baby needed in a specail baby unit, until the baby was fit to travel.

That explains why the GP charged me for consultations between 2006 and 2013. I paid for drugs too. Blood tests and x-rays were a lottery, which seemed to be because hospitals were not geared up for charging.

When I was in the UK in 2013, I'd arrived with a twisted ankle that was taking a long time to heal. I ought to have had it x-rayed in Canada, but hadn't. So, I decided to get an x-ray in the UK, even though I had to pay. I arrived at the hospital saying I would pay, but could not get them to agree to invoice me, and never received a bill.

Sorry, but I still think £1,000 is steep.

I think that many couldn't be bothered to charge, even though they were meant to and it was costing the NHS millions; while other NHS staff were angry at the abuse of the NHS that they saw.

The same when the UK should be billing other EEA countires for their citizens use of the NHS, just as they bill the UK. Until 2013, the UK didn't even have the system to find out which EEAs had to pay!

The Immigration Act 2014 has changed all this. As one doctor said on a forum, now they will lose money if they don't bill as their trust will be fined.
If the relevant NHS trust wants the money to pay for the treatment they give someone who uses a BRP with a valid Immigration Helath Surcharge, then they have to apply for it from the cental pot where all this IHS money is held.


From reading that link I gave from 2015, I think that x-ray would be free as it was treatment received via the A&E department. If you had been admitted to a ward and then x-rayed, then you would have been billed (or should have). I assume that was the same before April 2015?

My son was charged that in the US for x-rays on his sprained ankle and a bandage. He didn't stay on a ward.