Visitor using A&E

[wasiter]

All,

My mother is a diabetic patient and she normally carries medicines with her. She had some issue and we are forced to use A&E.

Basically, they did blood sugar test(using one touch machine) followed by blood test and prescribed Antibiotis/Ibuprofen.

When i entered the A&E i got registered her with all the details....But, we have not been charged...

Will i get a bill later?...just reading in the other thread it says that we have to clear the bill before leaving the country..is that true?

Could someone clarify this please?

Thanks

[MPH80]

AFAIK the provisions to bring in charging for A&E have not yet happened. See here: - it references implementation plans in March 2014 - but I can find no reference to those plans being published.

Had your mother been taking to a ward for an overnight stay - we'd be having a different conversation.

In either case - the current restriction is (I believe) on debts of over £2000 to the NHS. You can leave the country with a debt like that - but future visas would be rejected until it's clear. It's highly unlikely that a diabetes test and the medication would come to over £2k (although it wouldn't surprise me).

M.

[wasiter]

Thanks.

No, she was not admitted...just a test followed by antibiotics...Infact, i booked an appointment with GP...

2 years before it happened to my mom...on that occasion we used GP and i paid £40 followed by medicines...

£2000 for A&E...iam absolutely surprised...

[MPH80]

That £2000 figure isn't just A&E - it's simply 'if you run up more than this - we'll not grant you a visa'. There are immigrants who do abuse the system - come for maternity for example - where those bills can run into 10s of thousands if there's any complexity in delivery.

And you're right - to run up a £2k bill in A&E would be impressive ... but (say) a CT scan on a head injury ... and a few xrays on broken bones ... and a blood test ... maybe some medication too ... it's not hard to see how you'd get there. I once had a private hospital show me the bill for 3 blood tests my insurance was paying for - it came to over £700. That was before the consultant bill!

There was some story about A&E in the USA charging $35 for an aspirin (on top of all their other charges). I remember hearing it when I was travelling there last year during the Obamacare implementation debate. The hospital was arguing they were charging the fully loaded cost (administrators, buildings, storage, shipping etc) of the single pill + a bit of profit. But $35 for an aspirin?!?

[Wanderer]

That £2000 figure isn't just A&E - it's simply 'if you run up more than this - we'll not grant you a visa'. There are immigrants who do abuse the system - come for maternity for example - where those bills can run into 10s of thousands if there's any complexity in delivery.

And you're right - to run up a £2k bill in A&E would be impressive ... but (say) a CT scan on a head injury ... and a few xrays on broken bones ... and a blood test ... maybe some medication too ... it's not hard to see how you'd get there. I once had a private hospital show me the bill for 3 blood tests my insurance was paying for - it came to over £700. That was before the consultant bill!

There was some story about A&E in the USA charging $35 for an aspirin (on top of all their other charges). I remember hearing it when I was travelling there last year during the Obamacare implementation debate. The hospital was arguing they were charging the fully loaded cost (administrators, buildings, storage, shipping etc) of the single pill + a bit of profit. But $35 for an aspirin?!?

Here's one from the USA, guy got appendicitis, some health cover but not enough, this is just one part of his $53,000 bill...



Lord Praise all those who've actually paid towards the NHS, not many nowadays.......

[Amber]

Emergency treatment is non-chargeable, currently.

[wasiter]

Thanks Amber for clarifying this.