South west couple left with $200k bill after baby born in US
www.bbc.co.uk
Family face a nine month battle with insurance giant Zurich which has now apologised.

A couple were told they faced a $200,000 (£146,500) medical bill when their baby was born prematurely in the US, despite them having travel insurance which covered her pregnancy.

  • JoshuaFalken@lemmy.worldEnglish
    911·
    12 hours ago

    Sylvester said the couple “made 100% sure Issy was insured to be pregnant, and any complications involving pregnancy whilst we were abroad were covered”.

    Sylvester explained: “Essentially what they said is that we would have been covered had the baby not survived. But the fact was that the baby survived.”

    “We weren’t going to be covered for that, because we didn’t put his name on the insurance policy.”

    As someone that wouldn’t choose to travel into or through the United States, I can’t say I would be surprised if I got back home after this ordeal and the medical bills started showing up. US healthcare will charge for anything under the sun. I half expect visitors will be sent invoices for travelling in the vicinity of a hospital in the near future.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      I have both a heathcare insurance and because my hobby is reenacting (ie, travel with really expensive things and doing dumb things like sleep under a hedge for 2 days) a very good travel insurance which includes healthcare abroad.

      Both go out of their way to point out I have coverage in the entire world except the USA and active warzones.

    • justme@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      47·
      12 hours ago

      The insurance on question is not American, but from their home country. The ridiculous price is American though

      • JoshuaFalken@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        12 hours ago

        I realise that, my connecting thought was that the hospital looking at their insurance policy should have been able to understand the pregnancy was covered. Even with it being unclear due to the contract’s wording, it should have triggered the billing department contacting the insurer for clarification.

        That’s not how America works though, they operate on a ‘invoice first, ask questions later’ approach. If one in a thousand bills get paid without question, the superfluousness is considered justified. Oh well, I would add this to my list of reasons to avoid the country if it weren’t so long already.

        • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          4 hours ago

          You seem confused.

          As someone who has worked directly with medical (dental) insurance, the billing hospital/doctor almost definitely sent the bill to the insurance company first, were denied the claim, and then sent it to the couple afterwards.

          You seem to think the hospital told them they weren’t covered, but that isn’t what happened. At least not in this article. They thought it was covered and dealt with until returning to the UK, where the insurer told them they weren’t covered.