b6bloke Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 well my gf's trip skiing to Jacksons Hole in the states has gone tits up after having a serious accident 3 hours into a 10 day trip! hit gravel and flew into rocks dislocating her knee though only alive due to wearing a hemet so mountain rescue said. She has annual insurance including extreme sports though Yanks will not accept it as they say British comapnies dont pay so she has to pay and claim it back. Credit card is maxed out already with costs so far so she has refused an MRI and Keyhole investigation. Anyway she is stuck in hotel room in a brace and cant leave, insurance wont pay to bring her home early and seems she may not even get any costs back on holiday except ski pass. pissed off that I am here and she is there but more pissed off that she has no confidence in her insurance as she should be able to get the treatment she needs not what she can afford. The hospital would not even let her in as an emergency until they had her card details. :evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 What insurance firm is she with ? Dislocated knee !!! FFS that sounds painful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 well my gf's trip skiing to Jacksons Hole in the states has gone tits up after having a serious accident 3 hours into a 10 day trip! hit gravel and flew into rocks dislocating her knee though only alive due to wearing a hemet so mountain rescue said. Well if she ends up all scarred and battered, you might want to consider dumping her. Oh. Oops. Wrong thread. Sounds to me like a situation where the right advice from the right lawyer is needed. For starters you would think that hospitals getting their money back from the insurance company should be their problem. Saying "but they never pay" shouldn't be allowed to stand, for obvious reasons. There's also the insurance ombudsman of course. No idea if they're worth anything or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Get the policy out and check the wording If you're covered for North America then get legal support pronto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Ps. Shouldnt you be at the airport flying out there rather than on VT ??;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Firstly, I have dislocated my knee twice playing football, most painful thing ever and still mentally hurts me. Secondly, a mate of mine had a nasty leg break skiing in the states, he had a similar issue with the hospital saying that they wanted him to pay and then claim when he got home. He told them to get stuffed and they patched him up and dealt with the insurance company. It sounds like what they're doing is illegal, I'd put pressure on them. You could also get a solicitor here to give the hospital a call, the threat of legal action might spur them into action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Firstly, I have dislocated my knee twice playing football, most painful thing ever and still mentally hurts me. Secondly, a mate of mine had a nasty leg break skiing in the states, he had a similar issue with the hospital saying that they wanted him to pay and then claim when he got home. He told them to get stuffed and they patched him up and dealt with the insurance company. It sounds like what they're doing is illegal, I'd put pressure on them. You could also get a solicitor here to give the hospital a call, the threat of legal action might spur them into action. Agree with this. Their evil-capitalist-pig first course of action is always going to be to try to get you to pay up front, no matter what the legal truth of it is. Also worth checking what sort of Legal coverage the policy provides. You might be able to employ a team of crack ambulance chasers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 What insurance firm is she with ? Dislocated knee !!! FFS that sounds painful Axa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 AXA should be fine, have you read the policy and specifically the geographic coverage clauses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 Ps. Shouldnt you be at the airport flying out there rather than on VT ??;-) Europe i would of fetched her but she is 3 plane journeys away :evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 Ps. Shouldnt you be at the airport flying out there rather than on VT ??;-) Europe i would of fetched her but she is 3 plane journeys away :evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 If coverage is just Europe you are **** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Worldwide Ci. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Then you should be covered Get some legal help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LincsVilla Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Definitely get some legal help, pressure them with a phone call from a solicitor like Tamuff said, hopefully you'll scare the hospital in to action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokVilla Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Since moving overseas I have had to adjust to operating in a medical insurance situation, there's no NHS over here. My experience is that it is fairly normal to have these kinds of issues when presenting for medical treatment with an insurance card. You have to remember that many overseas hospitals are, sad to say, businesses- plain and simple. They will not run the risk of spending X dollars on a procedure and other expenses if they don't think they will get paid. Accordingly the hospitals prefer to receive the green light on a claim from the insurers and, as appears to be the case here, may even push the patient to absorb this risk by paying up-front to claim back later. It's not clear from what you said, but I would be telling the hospital to get lost on their request for her to pay and would also be pushing AXA very hard for them to move this situation forward, they are your insurance provider they have a Duty of Care to thier client. It is their responsibility to urgently assess and approve, in principle, any claim including perhaps an immediate advance on an element of the costs expected to be incurred. At this stage, I don't see any value in spending money on a solicitor either in the UK or US - just try to get AXA on the case and talking to the US hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted February 6, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted February 6, 2012 Tell AXA your going to a US lawyer in order to reclaim expenses incurred with any delay in their payment, they have a hotline for skiing accidents. Sounds messy, AXA must have a reason for not paying, get it and then phone the insurance omb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Cheers folks, Its taking some doing but getting somewhere now. Even though my GF has been on to the insurance a lot she really hasnt been getting too far and being on strong pain killers dont help. I have been in touch with the AXA Chicago office who are dealing with her claim, I explained that she is not getting even the basic medical care she needs due to the up front costs they are asking and before I even mentioned getting legal for any circumstances caused due to this poor medical care the woman was pretty shocked. They had authorised all payments on the 3rd but said that this could have been done with a simple phone call from the hospital to the insurance. They are not only chasing up but have offered altenative medical help due to the poor service so far. She is trying to get home as she is stuck in bed, there is no chance of claiming for holiday cost but will just get her ski pass money returnedm if she gets sent home early she will also be able to claim for the hotel costs from the date she leaves. She has her injury assessed today and will decide on sending her back then, the problem being that her leg is so swelled it may call for special arrangements and a certificate to travel. This has been such a pain and really makes you think how lucky we are to have an NHS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 This has got out of hand now and is turning into a nightmare as its now the 7th (happend on 2nd) and still no further, still no medical treatment and as far as they are concerned she is still stuck in a hotel room with no money as used it on medical fees (we have wired her some) They told her last night that they are still assessing her case yet I have just rang and they said they are waiting for the hospitals to get back to them with an update on injury though she keeps telling them that they have not even contacted her. They say they will chase up the hospital but they have said that every day. They say even once they have the medical report it will take days to arrange for her to get back as they have to not only arrange flights but get authorisation for her to travel. My argument is that this happened on the 2nd so it should have all been done by now. Her original flight back is on Friday but she will not be able to get that in normal seating so worried now that she may have to stay there even longer. She is unaware that this is way off being sorted as she thinks she is just waiting for the ok on the flight and is not in the best of places as it is. No medical treatment since the accident worries me as more damage may have been done that they think, so I think her treatment so far is disgusting considering she had premier cover and though I want to take this further I just want to get her home first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted February 7, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thoughts go out to you mate. Call the airline and give them a heads up and you'll be surprised that they might help out re seating etc. I had to extend a stay in Kenya as I was in hospital. Flew back with KLM or someone and they gave me a better seat as I told them I'd originally had a big seat on my Thomson flight. Gave them the whole story and they sympathised. Guessing your mrs will also need transport through the airport so it's worth a call. Can't help on the insurance front though. rocket polishers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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