4 ms·

> poor countries It happened to a friend of mine who was hiking in Canada a year or two ago. Her son cut a big gash in his foot and they couldn't get online,

by 13of40 9y ago

> poor countries It happened to a friend of mine who was hiking in Canada a year or two ago. Her son cut a big gash in his foot and they couldn't get online, so I had to call around to find an emergency room they could go to. The local emergency room basically said in lieu of proof of (internationally-accepted) insurance they would need $800 up front if he wanted to be seen. I think they wrapped a towel around it and drove back to the US.

Kluny 9y ago
As a Canadian, I find that difficult to believe. Even more difficult to believe that your friend didn't get travel health insurance and carry proof of it while hiking. That's pretty reckless.
- testvox 9y ago
  Do you really find it harder to believe a tourist wouldn't have travel health insurance? I've never heard of anyone buying that for a day trip to Canada. And just generally it's rare in my experience for people to buy insurance unless it's required in some way. Maybe that is an American phenomenon though.
  - Kluny 9y ago
    By contrast, I know few Canadians who would set foot in the USA for one day without travel health insurance. We've all heard the story about the Canadian couple who went to Hawaii on their honeymoon and delivered a baby (prematurely) there, and it cost them 1 million in hospital fees because their coverage wasn't sufficient. And they did have insurance, it just didn't cover baby deliveries.
    - 13of40 9y ago
      https://www.today.com/parents/canadian-mom-who-gives-birth-hawaii-gets-near-1-million-1D80302220 https://www.today.com/parents/canadian-mom-who-gives-birth-h... It sounds like it was the Canadian insurance provider who screwed them, though. They said[2] that since she had a bladder infection prior to getting the travel insurance, it was a pre-existing condition and therefore wasn't covered. So basically, if you get your travel insurance and come across the border, don't expect it to cover anything like a heart attack, an abcessed tooth, a prescription refill, etc. [2]https://www.change.org/p/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-jennifer-huculak-kimmel-s-medical-bills https://www.change.org/p/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-jenn...
- refurb 9y ago
  As a Canadian, I find it easy to believe. Go and ask some of the hospitals just across the border from Detroit. They have gotten bent over many times by Americans who come over to Windsor, get injured (usually related to the lower drinking age), show up in the ER, then bail when it comes time for the bill.
- jasonlotito 9y ago
  > As a Canadian, I find that difficult to believe. As someone who lived in Canada for 10 years, I can understand that. The blindness Canadians have to the severe problems in their own healthcare system is amazing. Take a look at the massive problems in autism care in Canada. Let me put it this way, it was cheaper (free), faster, and superior in every way in the US as opposed to Canada, where it was far more expensive, years in waiting times, and in the end got no autism assistance. To be fair, this was back in 2011 when we finally left, but having kept an eye on the system (what with having family there still), it hasn't really improved.
radoslawc 9y ago
Well as a general rule when you're travelling it' safer to buy some short term insurance, not really sure how it works in US. To some extent you cannot blame country for not taking care for foreign citizen for free. On the other hand I had medical emergency in Italy while back, and public hospital made several pretty expensive tests for free without even checking my documents. One of them (if this page is true) seems to be almost $1500: https://www.mdsave.com/procedures/echocardiography-complete-ecg-cardiac-echo/d784fbc8 https://www.mdsave.com/procedures/echocardiography-complete-...
- nraynaud 9y ago
  I know France has an budget line for those cases where they probably won't be paid, hospitals bill the State from this special fund for people who wouldn't be able to afford it. As far I know, it's just a few millions euros per year (of 145 billions tax income). It should be noted that the bill won't be different from an insured person bill, the prices are "posted".
- kylehotchkiss 9y ago
  World Nomads offers a good product (https://www.worldnomads.com/ https://www.worldnomads.com/) that I generally travel with but some travel credit cards also have pretty good medical benefits as well.
- 13of40 9y ago
  Her husband's a developer at Microsoft, so they had good coverage. IIRC, they just weren't carrying the special paper you're supposed to print out to tell foreign hospitals that you're covered.
- walshemj 9y ago
  Did you have a European Health Insurance Card? This is the card that lets EEA citizens get state healthcare in other EEA countries and Switzerland at a reduced cost or sometimes for free. https://www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card https://www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card

by 13of40 9y ago

Kluny 9y ago

As a Canadian, I find that difficult to believe. Even more difficult to believe that your friend didn't get travel health insurance and carry proof of it while hiking. That's pretty reckless.

testvox 9y ago
Do you really find it harder to believe a tourist wouldn't have travel health insurance? I've never heard of anyone buying that for a day trip to Canada. And just generally it's rare in my experience for people to buy insurance unless it's required in some way. Maybe that is an American phenomenon though.
- Kluny 9y ago
  By contrast, I know few Canadians who would set foot in the USA for one day without travel health insurance. We've all heard the story about the Canadian couple who went to Hawaii on their honeymoon and delivered a baby (prematurely) there, and it cost them 1 million in hospital fees because their coverage wasn't sufficient. And they did have insurance, it just didn't cover baby deliveries.
  - 13of40 9y ago
    https://www.today.com/parents/canadian-mom-who-gives-birth-hawaii-gets-near-1-million-1D80302220 https://www.today.com/parents/canadian-mom-who-gives-birth-h... It sounds like it was the Canadian insurance provider who screwed them, though. They said[2] that since she had a bladder infection prior to getting the travel insurance, it was a pre-existing condition and therefore wasn't covered. So basically, if you get your travel insurance and come across the border, don't expect it to cover anything like a heart attack, an abcessed tooth, a prescription refill, etc. [2]https://www.change.org/p/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-jennifer-huculak-kimmel-s-medical-bills https://www.change.org/p/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-jenn...
refurb 9y ago
As a Canadian, I find it easy to believe. Go and ask some of the hospitals just across the border from Detroit. They have gotten bent over many times by Americans who come over to Windsor, get injured (usually related to the lower drinking age), show up in the ER, then bail when it comes time for the bill.
jasonlotito 9y ago
> As a Canadian, I find that difficult to believe. As someone who lived in Canada for 10 years, I can understand that. The blindness Canadians have to the severe problems in their own healthcare system is amazing. Take a look at the massive problems in autism care in Canada. Let me put it this way, it was cheaper (free), faster, and superior in every way in the US as opposed to Canada, where it was far more expensive, years in waiting times, and in the end got no autism assistance. To be fair, this was back in 2011 when we finally left, but having kept an eye on the system (what with having family there still), it hasn't really improved.

radoslawc 9y ago

Well as a general rule when you're travelling it' safer to buy some short term insurance, not really sure how it works in US. To some extent you cannot blame country for not taking care for foreign citizen for free. On the other hand I had medical emergency in Italy while back, and public hospital made several pretty expensive tests for free without even checking my documents. One of them (if this page is true) seems to be almost $1500: https://www.mdsave.com/procedures/echocardiography-complete-ecg-cardiac-echo/d784fbc8 https://www.mdsave.com/procedures/echocardiography-complete-...

nraynaud 9y ago
I know France has an budget line for those cases where they probably won't be paid, hospitals bill the State from this special fund for people who wouldn't be able to afford it. As far I know, it's just a few millions euros per year (of 145 billions tax income). It should be noted that the bill won't be different from an insured person bill, the prices are "posted".
kylehotchkiss 9y ago
World Nomads offers a good product (https://www.worldnomads.com/ https://www.worldnomads.com/) that I generally travel with but some travel credit cards also have pretty good medical benefits as well.
13of40 9y ago
Her husband's a developer at Microsoft, so they had good coverage. IIRC, they just weren't carrying the special paper you're supposed to print out to tell foreign hospitals that you're covered.
walshemj 9y ago
Did you have a European Health Insurance Card? This is the card that lets EEA citizens get state healthcare in other EEA countries and Switzerland at a reduced cost or sometimes for free. https://www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card https://www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card