Spent most of the day with my father in law at the Costa del Sol Hospital. He is still there waiting to be seen.
An interesting experience follows!!!
My father in law has been suffering with pain in his leg since he arrived. I should have taken him to the doctor last week but instead hes been moaning with pain for a week but didnt want to go.
Enter the Costa Del Sol Hospital this morning. Told reception what the matter was. Gave them passport and EHIC Card as asked for. Then there was a lot of whispering going on and other people getting involved with our situation when a woman came over and asked if he had holiday insurance.
Yes we said as it was the truth. Handed over the paperwork and they said take a seat and when you have seen the first nurse come back to this desk.
So we are sitting and waiting for a while, see the first nurse and then go back to collect paperwork.
Because we said YES we HAVE HOLIDAY INSURANCE - they took a deposit of 200€uros on a credit card. They said we would get this back. But I said we have EHIC Card Valid - we came here as they dont have much money and are fully covered by EHIC.
They said you will get the 200€ back. BUT the Excess on HOLIDAY INSURANCE is 50 pounds - so he would get charged that.
I understand completely why they are doing this and think its great that finally they are clamping down on treating people that dont pay into the system. But this is EHIC Card for Europe and we should be covered.
SO basically - we would have been better off saying "NO WE DONT HAVE HOLIDAY INSURANCE".
However, if this was the case and you needed hospitilization or flown back to the UK - you would not be covered.
Not too sure if this is what UK do to foreigners - but if this has happened to you please do email in.
If we were going to have to pay we would have just gone private and not wasted a day in the hospital.
On top of all this we arrived at 11.30am and he didnt leave the hospital until 8.30pm. They told us it wasnt very busy!!! 9 HOURS.
Other than the wait and the people coughing and splattering everywhere and when you see people coming in in servere pain, you dont really mind waiting, once seen by the doctors the service was very good and they treated him very well and did not allow him to leave the hospital until they were absolutely certain nothing was wrong.
3 comments:
That is really bad and very unfair.I guess they will know for the future.
My mother is almost 91 and plans on coming out to spend Christmas with us. She's applied for her EHIC card, but we're still worried about her flight etc. as she's very vulnerable. Insurance at her age is expensive, but she will take out a policy. After seeing your blog, I don't know if her flying out is such a good idea! Thanks for your info Jo, much appreciated even if I am more confused than ever. Anne
Hi Anne,
Basically if she has an EHIC Card she will be seen - no problem at all. But basically...if the hospital can claim of your Holiday Insurance they get all the money back. If only from EHIC Card then they only get 40% back which is why they prefer to have your hooliday insurance.
My Husband saw a letter for CDS Hospital from the NHS IN England saying that when possible they should claim off the Holiday Insurance. This surely is going to put the price of policies up!!!
nevertheless, although a long wait I thought the service was good.
Regards
Joanne
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