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How are foreign patients billed in US hospitals

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Posted 5/11/2015 11:29 PM (GMT 0)
I am from Toronto Canada, and I want to go to US to consult with a surgeon and have my surgery there. I have few questions regarding this if someone can answer.

1) Is there any insurance I can buy here in Canada or when I land in US as a foreign patient that will cover me full or partial for a surgery in US?

2ndly, lets say if I don't have any insurance and I were to pay out of pocket, how would this work? Will the doctor or hospital quote me ahead of surgery, and require me to pay the full amount before surgery?
Or am I required to put some deposit down first ( if so, what % of the quoted cost?)
Or am I only required to pay for the doctor's consultations before surgery, and after surgery the hospital will bill me the actual total cost and I pay it after?

Also in terms of any financial help, is it possible to get some discount off the final bill, or possible to pay in installments etc?

I will appreciate if someone can answer these questions for me, regarding insurance, how/when hospital will bill the patient, and lastly if theres financial help. Thank you
Posted 5/11/2015 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
I think I can offer you some advice. You can purchase travel health insurance but it is very selective about covering pre-existing conditions. I always purchase it for any travel out of the US.

Any Dr., consult. Dr. visit, or surgery requires complete payment upfront, or insurance coverage of same. You can contact any surgeon you like in the US for a consult and negotiate cash terms. I know of not a single surgeon that would take payments. You can always pay with credit card. Teaching or other specialty hospitals may offer unique pricing but I would not say they are cheaper in general.

If your sole purpose to travel to the US is to see a specialist, best you have it all wrapped up in terms of payment first.
Posted 5/11/2015 11:53 PM (GMT 0)
I will try to answer what I can for you. If you are without insurance you will be required to pay up front & the surgeon can tell you what his fees will be. Some drs may give a discount if there is no insurance to be filed, but once again the dr will want his money up front before surgery. The office manager usually is the person that handles this.

Hospitals work very much the same way when there is no insurance. Since you are not a citizen here it is totally at their discretion as to if they will reduce their fees at all. They will not let you pay it out. It is my understanding that the chances are not good they would offer you any type of financial aide. I have a friend that works at a large hospital & she gets these type of calls daily.

I cannot answer your question about obtaining insurance in the US to cover the surgery. My thinking is if there is such coverage available it would probably be so expensive no one could afford to pay for it. I think your biggest obstacle is going to be not a US citizen.

It is impossible to give you an estimate as to what surgery would cost because it is unknown if you are a surgical candidate, no one knows what type of surgery you may need, & yes the type of surgery is what determines the cost factor. When a person has surgery here in the states there are so many people involved that each charge for their services from lab work, xrays, anesthesiology to the dr & hospital. I can tell you first hand any surgery is very expensive .

Since you are covered by insurance in Canada I am not understanding why you are not having surgery in your country.
Posted 5/12/2015 8:34 AM (GMT 0)
If you are seriously even considering such a thing and you can even find a surgeon to do such a thing,and you may if you have that kinda cash laying around,your not likely to come out on the better end of this deal. A surgeon worth his salt isn't going to do the kind of surgery your asking for because adhesions from surgery preformed by another surgeon(out of the country) tells him this persons likely prone to adhesions so reentering an old surgical scar is more than likely to cause more tissue damage with more adhesions. Like I said in this land of opportunities I'm fairly sure you may find a surgeon of some ilk to part you and your cash and not give a care for whether he leaves the way paved for more tissue overgrowth and adhesions because hey your leaving the country for home and unless you have resident status suing hims not likely to happen.

Insurance will not cover most pre-existing conditions for up to a year
Insurance will not cover a surgical procedure thats not proven necessary for life,health,and well being
Hospitals will not set up payment plans with out of country residents(same reason you can't sue a Dr here)
Hospitals require cash patients to pay balance of surgery,hospital stay,etc in full upfront unless you have a guarantees on record since should you die they're up that proverbial creek.
The surgeon,lab,pathologist,radiation dept,and such are not included in the consult and quote for the procedure.
University affiliated hospitals have different rules if you are here and have a life threatening emergency arise.

As you can see what your asking seems absurd to those of us who are reading this. Millions of Americans have no healthcare options and can't get treatment needed to help them and I don't think that they are going to be obliging or sympathetic to your cause based on pain alone.
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