Expert: Ray A Miller - 8/23/2010

Question
I live in Canada and went to Florida on vacation. My husband ended up coming down with mono and spent 3 days in the hospital there. Our travel medical insurance is not covering our bill because they say it was a pre existing condition. We owe a total of $8000. When I called the hospital to make arrangements to pay they said they can only give us 12 months to pay. That's $700 a month! My question is what will happen if we can't pay? We live in a different country so will it effect my credit here in Canada? If I make smaller monthly payments will they still send it to collections? Will we be able to go back to the U.S. with an unpaid medical bill? Can they take us to court? We are willing to pay what we owe but we just cant afford that amount.

Answer
Yes they can do all of the things you mention.  I suspect it will show up on your credit in Canada but I am not sure.  My advice to you is to call the Director of the business office and offer all of your financial information showing that you can not afford $700.00 per month.  Most hospitals would rather collect the bill in house than to farm it out to a collection agency and pay them to collect.  I hope you find this helpful.