I am wondering, if someone came from Ireland, and had a health card there (free medical), what would happen if they needed medical treatment while visiting in the USA?

At this point, its just a question!

Any body have information on this?
Thanks,
Shadow

Your coverage in Ireland isn't going to help you in the US. You would have to pay for any treatment you receive. You can buy visitor medical insurance through the Automobile Association and I am sure other companies offer it - or buy travel insurance while you are still in Ireland. Check this website.
http://www.worldtravelcenter.com/eng...=googlevisitor

Anyone travelling to the US should always take out healthcare insurance, whether or not you choose to take out further travel insurance. Many companies offer either European coverage (which covers the part the EU treaty doesn't) or worldwide which pays out to a much higher limit. Make sure you are insured for as high a sum as possible for the US.

I don't think most hospitals would accept someone who doesn't have medical insurance because of liability. Unless you have symptoms of a heart attack or something similar the first question they ask is to see your insurance card.

If you're marginally sick go to one of the emergency outpatient clinics for quick treatment. If you're really sick w/o insurance go to a Catholic hospital - they'll take you in and discharge you with the promise to pay.

Keep in mind that prescription medications are also very expensive.

Get travel health insurance for the duration of your trip.

My travel agent refuses to sell anyone a ticket or tour to the US unless they take out full medical insurance.

The USA has one of the world's most expensive medical systems and your Irish health care card will mean zilch (and why should it, this is for Irish citizens in their own country, why would the Irish government pay when you are out of the country?)

If you are thinking of travelling with a pre- existing medical condition be mindful that this may affect the level and type of insurance you can obtain.

But don't even think about travelling without insurance if there's a chance you may need medical help.

A case in point, my neighbour, who was involved in a relatively minor accident in America was charged over forty thousand American dollars for his medical attention - 'nuff said?

Some American hospitals are non-profit organizations. They7 are obligated to receive and treat charity patients without charge. I don't know how an ROI or a NI patient would be classified and billed.

A hospital cannot refuse an emergency patient, regardless of ability to pay, so you will receive treatment in a true emergency. What they call true emergency I don't exactly know.

A couple of tips.

Hospital emergency rooms are often overused by walk-in, non emergency patients. This can cause a backlog and a long wait before your are even evaluated by a triage nurse. If you truly require emergency care, call 9-1-1 and get brought to the hospital in an ambulance. You will get wheeled in and at least evaluated right away.

There are so-called urgent care centers in most areas that can handle a wide range of non-emergency situations, including sickness, broken bones, cuts, stitches, etc. By emergency I mean something that requires specialty care in hospital, either life threatening or otherwise severe, not just a doctor in her/his office or clinic.

These are much cheaper than a hospital for the same basic care. As others have said, medical care (esp. emergency care) is very expensive in the US, and hospital bills are very complex, convoluted.

I'm exaggerating now, but I could swear that the last ER bill I received had a so many unintelligible line items:

A charge for simply entering through the automatic doors, two for using the waiting room chairs (one for the patient, one for friend), itemized bill for the kleenexes used, and a bathroom charge per flush.

That's before the lab, pharmacy, and physician charges (and insurance co wouldn't pay 100% since I 'chose' an out of network MD). Don't get me started on that one.

I remember when my daughter made her first trip to the US.
She told her insurance company, "I get run over by a ten ton truck, I spend a year in hospital and the driver sues me for post traumatic stress. Insure me for all that!"

<<< I am wondering, if someone came from Ireland, and had a health card there (free medical) >>>

????

Last time I checked, Ireland had a free health system for ALL of it's residents

OP - think of the US medical regime as Ryanair - but not as friendly

In Los Angeles it is hard to find a US citizen in the emergency room.

Ditto what J62 wrote.

If care was needed for an emergency - read that as immediately life threatening - it would be provided and them billed for afterward, at the full "list price."

If care was needed for something not immediately life threatening, the patient would be asked to show proof of insurance (which would be verified) or put down a substantial deposit (cash or credit card) and sign promissory notes agreeing to pay any balance. Charges would again be billed according to "full list price."

adrienne - where did yo get he idea that catholic hospitals are any different? In fact, they are not, and some of the most heinous examples of hounding for payment I have ever seen came from catholic hospitals.

<i>(free medical)</i>

Many subscribe to the P. J. O'Rourke school of political thought:

&quot;If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!&quot;

You may not pay for it, but it's not &quot;free&quot;.

Seriously, though. If you have a life-threatening episode you will be admitted and treated at any American hospital. Yes, you will be asked to pay...but your treatment will not be dependent on it. Best approach is to take out a temporary policy to cover all potential problems.

Good luck and good health!

alanRow wrote: &quot;Last time I checked, Ireland had a free health system for ALL of it's residents&quot;

Not exactly. Free hospital treatment. Other things (incl. GP consultations, prescription medicines, and more) have to be paid for unless one has a medical card, something that is issued to older people and those on low incomes. Under EU reciprocation arrangements, I am entitled to whatever level of care is afforded to denizens of other EU states when I visit, and they have similar entitlements here. [This reciprocity might be what prompted Shadow to think somebody from Ireland might be entitled to cover in the US, but it is an EU arrangement, not a wider international convention.]

The US has no system of government provided medicine, except for US senior citizens.

If you don;t have private health insurance (or buy it as part of your travel insurance) you are liable for any costs associated with your medical care.

In an emergency a hospital is not allowed to turn you away even if you don;t have insurance - but they will definitely collect all of your information - including credit card info - and bill you - A LOT - for any services you use.

If it's not a true emergency - car accident, heart attack, broken bone etc - typically a hospital will not admit you without insurance or some sort of guarantee of payment.

If your illness is not of an emergency nature and you need to go to a clinic (Doc in a Box - outpatient clinics associated with hospitals for more minor problems) it will be cash - or credit card up front. As will the costs of any medications you need at the pharmacy.

If you are aware of any chance of needing medical care in the US it is close to madness to arrive without health insurance.

(Typically US private health insurers - which is what most people have - cover your care anywhere in the world - although you may have to pay the bill up front, they then reimburse you.) If you have government paid insurance you are not covered outside the US and have to buy extra insurance. But this applies only to senior citizens (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid).

Actually, the US does have govt. healthcare for some people other than senior citizens, such as for the active-duty military and their dependents (assuming that term refers to insurance, as it must if the reference is Medicare). Medicare isn't free for many services, anyway, it's just an insurance policy that is available they can buy (only inpatient hospital insurance is free, but there are still large deductibles) US senior citizens don't automatically get any free care for physician services or hospital ER services by the government, the part of Medicare that covers hospital outpatient services/ER is voluntary insurance, you have to buy it and pay premiums. TRICARE insurance does cover its beneficiaries outside the US, and that is the insurance for military dependents, such as wives and children.

However, that's really a side issue since the question was about non-citizens. I've been to an emergency room, about 18 months ago, and it wasn't that bad and I the bill didn't have any unusual or silly charges on it (I suspect the post above was trying to be funny in some cases in stating the bill had those charges, I don't know) and wasn't that difficult to understand -- physician charge, hospital room charge, lab charge, radiology charge, that was about it. It wasn't cheap, but it actually wasn't as expensive as I had feared from the horror stories I had heard. The total bill was definitely less than $1000. I didn't wait that long to be seen, either. I'm sure some hospitals are a lot worse than others, of course -- mine was near my home in a suburb, but wasn't a wealthy private hospital). Hospitals in a large urban inner city area might be worse in terms of time, etc.

They did ask me for my insurance, of course, they have to ask, but I don't think legally they could refuse to treat me if I said I didn't have any. Catholic hospitals are no different than any other not-for-profit hospitals -- and all ERs will discharge you without you having paid before leaving, they can't hold you prisoner. Catholic hospitals have been some of the worst in overcharging people who don't have insurance and trying to collect from indigents, and there have been cases of Catholic hospitals getting their not-for-profit status yanked because they were so abusive in trying to collect money from poor and uninsured patients.

Hi S,

Even in the US, you will get emergency treatment at almost all hospitals.

The problem is paying for it.

Does you national health insurance cover you outside Ireland?

Honestly, we live very close to the States, we could do daytrips there if so inclined. We would never, and have never stepped foot over the border without extra health insurance.. no way in heck..

Get supplemental health insurance, you may need it,,
One time my 2 yr old stuck a flower bud up his nose in Hawaii, cost 200 dollars ( 15 years ago) for us to go to a clinic where the doctor literally spent less then 5 minutes with us, tweezers, and viola.. and as I said that was 200 dollars 15 years ago,, ( which we were reembuirsed for by our insurance) I can't imagine how much something that took more then 5 minutes would cost, or bandages, or tests. YIKES, and someone here said their bill for emergency service was less then 1000 dollars, like that is some kind of a DEAL???

Don't take the chance, there is a Canadain girl in a hospital in California whose family is trying to bring her home right now. It is costing them 10,000 dollars a day for the care she is recieving there now, I mean, these people might have to sell their home to pay those types of bills, insane. Accidents happen, and only the foolish( like this young lady) would go to States without proper insurance.

In our county, the county medical center/hospital treats anyone who comes to the hospital without regard to their ability to pay. In addition to that are no-fee clinics. So perhaps it also depends where you go.

annw - don't know were you live, but you may want to check again. You may get treated, but increasingly the trend is that you will also get billed - and referred to collections if you don't pay. There are even companies that sell their services - some specifically catering to public hospitals - doing this sort of collections, and they work on commission. Because of the inane way health care is financed in the US these institutions have seen cuts in funding and increasing demand (and no, it is not illegal immigrants driving up the costs)they have little choice but to do this.