Possible huge hospital bill

[bbakiu]

Hi everyone,

I need an advise and recommendation, I am a permanent resident of Canada and I have already a health card provided, My father came to visit me after two years and spend the Christmas and new year, After the first day he had a lot of abdominal pain and we went into emergency at Mount Sinai hospital, We found out that he had a stone blocking the liver duct and he had to go into emergency right away. I know that my father has travel insurance from his country but i am pretty sure that is not going to cover all the costs.

He stayed in hospital 3 nights, included the day he did the procedure ERCP. They asked me to sign as guarantor but i already told them that probably we will not be able to afford the costs. A social worker , that i met that day, explained to me that since we are again in a pandemic ( emergency time) there is a fund from the government that could help with the bills. Admission office confirmed that many times, but i am afraid that they are going to send me a bill at my home.

1. Is it true the fund part that the social worked mentioned or they said that only to calm me?
2. If they will send me a bill is there any possibility to negotiate with finance department?
3 Since I am the guarantor, but the bill is going to be under my father name, what happens if the bill is delayed until we find the money?

I would appreciate any suggestion or recommendation,

Thank you

 

[sando90]

Hi,

1-I never heard about ( EMERGENCY FUND ) for non-PR/CITZEN. Even myself I have not heard about it. Get a document from the government in which it
claim that.
2- Oh yes, I can guarantee you that can be refinanced.
3- You should ask the hospital.

Contact your father's insurance policy to ensure how much he is covered for and under what circumstances.

 

[YVR123]

Just FYI, we had similar issue. MIL went through surgery with travel insurance (coverage up to 11 million)...
BUT they ended up only paying the emergecy admission which was a small portion of the bill.
We had to cover the rest (I think 40K).... And we didn't know because the paperwork of the insurance was deal with by MIL and we later on got the bills from provincial health at our home ...

I think if you have difficulity to pay it in a short period of time, you can talk to your provincial health authority and they could work out a payment plan for you. So things can be paid in portion over a period of time.

We just had that as our renovation budget... and well...

 

[sheikhzaid]

Am I missing something? Isn't healthcare free in Canada? Can someone explain these bills. Sorry, for the noob question.

 

[Naturgrl]

Am I missing something? Isn't healthcare free in Canada? Can someone explain these bills. Sorry, for the noob question.

His father came to visit on a visitor visa. Healthcare is not free for visitors. As a visitor, you need private health insurance to cover any emergencies and depending on the coverage, it may not.

 

[YVR123]

Am I missing something? Isn't healthcare free in Canada? Can someone explain these bills. Sorry, for the noob question.

And "free healthcare" is just a general term. I believe that prescription drugs, dental and other form of extended healthcare (physio, eye exams ...etc) are not free in most provinces. There are program to help low income PR/citizens but it's not free for everyone.

 

[Idrissrafd]

Am I missing something? Isn't healthcare free in Canada? Can someone explain these bills. Sorry, for the noob question.

Canada is not France lol So even for Canadians they’ve to pay a lot from their pockets.

 

[canuck78]

Am I missing something? Isn't healthcare free in Canada? Can someone explain these bills. Sorry, for the noob question.

Looks like you are from the UK. In the UK you also get billed for care if you don’t have status in the UK. You will also be sent a bill and the billing department will come see you as soon as you are stabilized. This is the reason why any travellers to Canada should purchase travel health insurance. There are lots of posts on the forum from people asking how they can be expected to pay large bills because they have needed healthcare in Canada. Some are for a relatively small amount but others are 500k+. Healthcare is paid for by tax dollars so why would non-taxpayers get access to “free“ healthcare?

 

[canuck78]

Hi everyone,

I need an advise and recommendation, I am a permanent resident of Canada and I have already a health card provided, My father came to visit me after two years and spend the Christmas and new year, After the first day he had a lot of abdominal pain and we went into emergency at Mount Sinai hospital, We found out that he had a stone blocking the liver duct and he had to go into emergency right away. I know that my father has travel insurance from his country but i am pretty sure that is not going to cover all the costs.

He stayed in hospital 3 nights, included the day he did the procedure ERCP. They asked me to sign as guarantor but i already told them that probably we will not be able to afford the costs. A social worker , that i met that day, explained to me that since we are again in a pandemic ( emergency time) there is a fund from the government that could help with the bills. Admission office confirmed that many times, but i am afraid that they are going to send me a bill at my home.

1. Is it true the fund part that the social worked mentioned or they said that only to calm me?
2. If they will send me a bill is there any possibility to negotiate with finance department?
3 Since I am the guarantor, but the bill is going to be under my father name, what happens if the bill is delayed until we find the money?

I would appreciate any suggestion or recommendation,

Thank you

First of all I hope your father is feeling better. Would assume the fund was set up to help people who have had to get treatment for covid not other health issues although private insurance would always be used first. The fund likely exists to encourage people to seek care and follow public health guidelines. The fund is likely directed to undocumented people for example and not visitors. The fund is essentially another public health policy. Whether they will still cover cost of other health procedures is unknown. It doesn’t sound like your father was stuck in Canada due to covid restrictions which may be a reason other
procedures may be covered. Some older family members were not ab
e to return home during covid but also had difficulty extending their health insurance. Would suggest getting in touch with your father’s insurance company ASAP. That is the first step. if the hospital gets in touch with you you can also inform them of his policy and they may be able to assist you in providing any necessary information required by the insurance company. The insurance company may want to “negotiate” payment with the hospital directly. Even if there is a fund that is Canadian taxpayer dollars so it isn’t free money and your father should be trying to get the insurance company to cover the costs before even attempting to access any fund that the government,ent has been set up. it is very common for hospital bills to be paid via payment plan so you don’t have to worry about being contacted and asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars at once.