Health Care for foreigners
May 29th 2011, 8:46 am
#46
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 174
Re: Health Care for foreigners
There are programs/policies in certain states, such as Ohio, where medical bills will be waived or substantially reduced by the hospital in question, but certain conditions apply.
May 29th 2011, 8:52 am
#47
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 174
Re: Health Care for foreigners
Oh boy, do I have a story....basically, found out 3 months before I emigrated here that I was diabetic. No problem for first five years, as I had good coverage. After I was laid off and became self-employed had insurance for another 3 years, then premiums started rising to $750 a month, with a $5k deductible and 80% coverage.
Then I began having brief hospitalizations (not all diabetes related, one for example was an allergy) and so my total health care costs were becoming approx $20k per year. Then when premiums hit $1000 a month, while my mortgage was only $850, (2005) I couldn't afford coverage. That's when 12 months later, was admitted for minor surgery and resulted in emergency quadruple heart bypass. I was absolutely upfront about not able to pay, but even after kicking me out after 3 days , I still received a bill for $300,000. This was eventually written off by the hospital, but still had over $50k in doctors bills. They started to come after my house and assets, so my attorney advised my to file bankruptcy. So I became a deadbeat.
So thats how you do it over here, either don't get sick, and make sure you die in a well insured accident, or stay rich (and I mean RICH) and pay for insurance, or accept that you have to screw the system, and everyone who pays in, plus the govt and doctors, and become a deadbeat. I estimate to have paid over $150,000 in bills, have run up debts/insurance claims of nearly $500,000, and the quality of care was not much better than Carry On Doctor.
After all these years, I still cannot understand how or why this system exists.
As much as I love the USA, having seen the NHS first hand and the US system, I tell all my family back home not to "knock" the NHS, they don't know just how good they have it.
Then I began having brief hospitalizations (not all diabetes related, one for example was an allergy) and so my total health care costs were becoming approx $20k per year. Then when premiums hit $1000 a month, while my mortgage was only $850, (2005) I couldn't afford coverage. That's when 12 months later, was admitted for minor surgery and resulted in emergency quadruple heart bypass. I was absolutely upfront about not able to pay, but even after kicking me out after 3 days , I still received a bill for $300,000. This was eventually written off by the hospital, but still had over $50k in doctors bills. They started to come after my house and assets, so my attorney advised my to file bankruptcy. So I became a deadbeat.
So thats how you do it over here, either don't get sick, and make sure you die in a well insured accident, or stay rich (and I mean RICH) and pay for insurance, or accept that you have to screw the system, and everyone who pays in, plus the govt and doctors, and become a deadbeat. I estimate to have paid over $150,000 in bills, have run up debts/insurance claims of nearly $500,000, and the quality of care was not much better than Carry On Doctor.
After all these years, I still cannot understand how or why this system exists.
As much as I love the USA, having seen the NHS first hand and the US system, I tell all my family back home not to "knock" the NHS, they don't know just how good they have it.
If the hospital is trying to hit you with those extreme bills, you sue them for malpractice and claim that they should have detected your heart condition during a routine physical. Generally they'll pay you a settlement to get you to go away and keep your mouth closed. Also, you can probably get them to waive the bill.
Also, if you send letters to the debt collectors, certified/return receipt requested, telling them that they are not to contact you any more, by any method, at any time, for any reason, regarding Account Numbers XYZ123, and they persist in contacting you, you can sue them for harassment and you'll usually win, in addition to getting the debts waived/thrown out. There are very specific laws dealing with how debt collectors may pursue collecting a debt, in regards to how often they can call, when they can call, what they can or cannot say when speaking with you, discussions of your debts with third parties (i.e. employer, neighbors, friends, family), and when they have to stop calling (you are legally within your rights to insist they stop calling). If a debt collection agency violates your rights the answer is to sue them and get whatever you can from them, in addition to having the debt waived.
May 29th 2011, 8:54 am
#48
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 174
Re: Health Care for foreigners
Oh boy, do I have a story....basically, found out 3 months before I emigrated here that I was diabetic. No problem for first five years, as I had good coverage. After I was laid off and became self-employed had insurance for another 3 years, then premiums started rising to $750 a month, with a $5k deductible and 80% coverage.
Then I began having brief hospitalizations (not all diabetes related, one for example was an allergy) and so my total health care costs were becoming approx $20k per year. Then when premiums hit $1000 a month, while my mortgage was only $850, (2005) I couldn't afford coverage. That's when 12 months later, was admitted for minor surgery and resulted in emergency quadruple heart bypass. I was absolutely upfront about not able to pay, but even after kicking me out after 3 days , I still received a bill for $300,000. This was eventually written off by the hospital, but still had over $50k in doctors bills. They started to come after my house and assets, so my attorney advised my to file bankruptcy. So I became a deadbeat.
So thats how you do it over here, either don't get sick, and make sure you die in a well insured accident, or stay rich (and I mean RICH) and pay for insurance, or accept that you have to screw the system, and everyone who pays in, plus the govt and doctors, and become a deadbeat. I estimate to have paid over $150,000 in bills, have run up debts/insurance claims of nearly $500,000, and the quality of care was not much better than Carry On Doctor.
After all these years, I still cannot understand how or why this system exists.
As much as I love the USA, having seen the NHS first hand and the US system, I tell all my family back home not to "knock" the NHS, they don't know just how good they have it.
Then I began having brief hospitalizations (not all diabetes related, one for example was an allergy) and so my total health care costs were becoming approx $20k per year. Then when premiums hit $1000 a month, while my mortgage was only $850, (2005) I couldn't afford coverage. That's when 12 months later, was admitted for minor surgery and resulted in emergency quadruple heart bypass. I was absolutely upfront about not able to pay, but even after kicking me out after 3 days , I still received a bill for $300,000. This was eventually written off by the hospital, but still had over $50k in doctors bills. They started to come after my house and assets, so my attorney advised my to file bankruptcy. So I became a deadbeat.
So thats how you do it over here, either don't get sick, and make sure you die in a well insured accident, or stay rich (and I mean RICH) and pay for insurance, or accept that you have to screw the system, and everyone who pays in, plus the govt and doctors, and become a deadbeat. I estimate to have paid over $150,000 in bills, have run up debts/insurance claims of nearly $500,000, and the quality of care was not much better than Carry On Doctor.
After all these years, I still cannot understand how or why this system exists.
As much as I love the USA, having seen the NHS first hand and the US system, I tell all my family back home not to "knock" the NHS, they don't know just how good they have it.
You should have sued the pharmaceutical company that made your diabetes supplies and the pharmaceutical company that made the allergy medication. All you have to do is retain an attorney, ideally one who works on contingency, it is his job to bully the company into paying you a settlement, or convince a jury that you deserve money.
May 29th 2011, 1:07 pm
#49
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: Health Care for foreigners
some states are at fault states so you are at fault regardless, not much to sue there then, plus the lawyers take all the cash....it's a dumb strategy to play, for a start it's the law to have car insurance in most states, secondly you need the money straight away to fix stuff up, not in months down the road.
May 29th 2011, 1:19 pm
#50
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 174
Re: Health Care for foreigners
some states are at fault states so you are at fault regardless, not much to sue there then, plus the lawyers take all the cash....it's a dumb strategy to play, for a start it's the law to have car insurance in most states, secondly you need the money straight away to fix stuff up, not in months down the road.
What do you mean "at fault regardless" if somebody runs a red-light and T-bones you, or they rear end you, the default assumption in every state I've ever heard of is that they are at fault.
Actually most lawyers who work on contingency take 33% of the money, I didn't know 33% constituted "all of the cash."
I had my car totaled by a reckless inattentive driver and their insurance company immediately secured me a rental car which I used for 3-4 weeks while my car was at the shop being assessed. The assessment said that the car was a total loss and the insurance company immediately wrote me a check. I was behind the wheel of a new vehicle within 5.5 weeks of having my other vehicle destroyed. All with a lawsuit pending... They wrote me a check knowing that I had retained an attorney and was suing them.
Of course it is the law to have vehicle insurance, I have vehicle insurance, but I'm not going to make a claim with my company when the other person has insurance and I can make a claim against them that way, in addition to suing their insurance company for the massive injuries I suffered. If you hit me you have to make a claim on your own policy to cover my damages.
Any basic car accident is easily worth the blue book value of your car + $20,000 to $50,000 dollars depending on the extent of your injuries, considerably more if you are seriously injured. In a typical car accident case, the lawyer doesn't get a penny of the check that they write you to replace your car, and he gets 33% of whatever you get via settlement in regards to your injuries, pain/suffering, etc. If the case has to go to trial he typically receives 40% of the award, that's the standard fee arrangement in a contingency case. If somebody rear-ends you or t-bones you and totals your car, your settlement should probably be 4-5x the actual medical expenses in addition to the blue book value of your car which you should have received a check for within 2-3 weeks of your car being declared a total loss. Any lawyer worth his salt will know how to get you the money you deserve.
The only thing to watch for is health insurance subrogation against your settlement/award, but I know how to negotiate with subrogation people to get them to substantially reduce their lien. Typically your health insurance company will use a subrogation company to put a lien against your settlement money and try to recover the costs they spend on treating your injuries... My theory is that they're going to double dip, I spend years paying premiums and I make co-pays and pay deductibles, they owe me treatment/coverage. If I wasn't suing they wouldn't collect a penny... If the want to recover the money they spent tending to my injuries then they can sue the idiot who injured me, they're going to piggy-back off of my lawsuit and benefit from the fact that I retained an attorney and took it upon myself to pursue recovery. Most subrogation companies blow a lot of hot air and tell you that they are entitled to a portion of your money, usually trying to go after 100% of whatever your medical expenses were, but you can usually argue them down to being content with 5-10% and going away, because they don't want to deal with a lawsuit, they don't want the bad PR, and they just want to collect something and move on.
Last edited by Ohio556; May 29th 2011 at 1:22 pm.
May 29th 2011, 2:50 pm
#51
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: My Old KY Home!
Posts: 6,498
Re: Health Care for foreigners
Actually most lawyers who work on contingency take 33% of the money, I didn't know 33% constituted "all of the cash."
In your other responses above, you have said nothing to add value to this thread. The OP already knows about how unlikely it will be to get a private policy to cover pre-existing conditions.
Some threads here are meant in fun, and some are meant to actually help people. This is one meant to help people, and you've contributed nothing helpful. Go back to trolling your gun thread.
