USA 911-Emergency Service Charges and DV lottery

[greenMark]

Hi All,

I'm one of the DV lottery 2010 winners for USA and expecting the interview confirmation letter. I have travelled to USA once (in 2008) as a visitor and had emergency medical treatments from a hospital in California during that 10 days period. I was taken to the hospital by 911 emergency services. My wife signed all the documents given by 911 and the hospital. Later on we discovered they had sent the bills for the address where we were. (We never thought they are charging for these services, in UK they never charge.) My wife and I stayed at my uncle's place and this same address was given to the green card processing. But we didn't pay any of these hospital bills or Emergency service bills. (We were in UK when receiving bills). Will there be a problem at my Green card visa interview regarding this matter? My Uncle said that I do not need to pay those bills, Can they track me without any SSN.

 

[bentlebee]

Ohhh, I guess you might even be in trouble entering the USA. The hospital will not easily forget about you.

My mother in law was in the hospital over here in the ER and had to stay there and ended up in a hospice over here before transported back to Europe...Many, many bills were send and paid by her ins.

Did you travel with travel ins. or any other form of ins.? If so they should have covered it. How can you think you can go into a hospital and it is for free? I'm from Europe and never paid a dime going to a hospital, but I knew that in any other country you go and visit a hospital you have to make arrangements for the payments and yu are covered by your ins.
By now the interest will be up so high and they won't forget about you. If you ever have to go to a hospital again it will show up...

Did you gave any form of id? I guess they askedfor it, if so they know who you are, your passport number, etc...

It isn't like, well you ran up the bill for $ 500.- or more and the bill is on me (read 'the hospital)

Well to be sure you have to go through the process and see where you end...but the best way is to solve the issue with the hospital. Medical bills are the worst to get rid off without paying. They ruined many peoples credit scores....hospitals give it out to other companies to go after a person.
I know about a person who in The Netherlands didn't pay traffic tickets and on the way back from vacation, arriving at Schiphol airport he went straight to jail and had to sit there till some one came to pay off his tickets...he was my boss at the time. This was over 25 yrs ago, but I don't think they will do it any different now a days.

Good Luck!

 

[masematn]

I have travelled to USA once (in 2008) as a visitor and had emergency medical treatments from a hospital in California during that 10 days period.

Sorry to hear that. Have you been covered by your home country insurance?

Will there be a problem at my Green card visa interview regarding this matter?

No, there should be any problem. In fact, there is even no way for you to mention this story on the forms you'll have to submit. Unless you'll tell about it during your interview

Can they track me without any SSN.

It will be very hard for them to do so. Your uncle's address is not yours, and he is not responsible for any of your bills, so the address is useless for the hospital. I even doubt that the hospital will be able to sell your debt to any collection agency because they do not have enough information. Without SSN, you are also OK with your credit history, this incident will not affect it in any way. Finally, medical debts are the easiest to remove from a record. So in one word, do not worry, and good luck with getting your GC.

 

[bentlebee]

Sorry to hear that. Have you been covered by your home country insurance?


No, there should be any problem. In fact, there is even no way for you to mention this story on the forms you'll have to submit. Unless you'll tell about it during your interview


It will be very hard for them to do so. Your uncle's address is not yours, and he is not responsible for any of your bills, so the address is useless for the hospital. I even doubt that the hospital will be able to sell your debt to any collection agency because they do not have enough information. Without SSN, you are also OK with your credit history, this incident will not affect it in any way. Finally, medical debts are the easiest to remove from a record. So in one word, do not worry, and good luck with getting your GC.

What if they have his passport number...the hospital probable has asked for id...so it will be linked to his passport.

 

[MarcNZ]

I doubt this can cause you any problems during your interview unless you bring it up yourself, but I would agree with bentlebee that this could be something that may cause you some problems once you are actually back in the US. The hospital will just hand over your information to a collection agency and it's them that will be trying to find you. Personally, I think you should try and deal with it as soon as possible - maybe try and negotiate a payment plan with the hospital or something. I wouldn't really want to be starting my new life in the US already looking over my shoulder.

 

[bentlebee]

I doubt this can cause you any problems during your interview unless you bring it up yourself, but I would agree with bentlebee that this could be something that may cause you some problems once you are actually back in the US. The hospital will just hand over your information to a collection agency and it's them that will be trying to find you. Personally, I think you should try and deal with it as soon as possible - maybe try and negotiate a payment plan with the hospital or something. I wouldn't really want to be starting my new life in the US already looking over my shoulder.

Ia gree with Marc, and have read many times how medical bills are the hardest to get out off. They are willing to settle for a certain amount since they always start asking an incredible high amount and if a for example a lawyer starts to negotiate the amounts will go down so much. We are in the middle of something like that, but we never had to pay for them our self...it has to do with a car accident and I was shocked about what the doctors, hospitals, etc. are charging and what in the end was paid. That is a huge difference....but you don't want to enter with a GC stamp in your passport and than having trouble because of the bills...and not being able to enter unless you pay!

 

[greenMark]

Thanks for all the replies... They didn't get any sort of identification from me. I know I have to pay these bills. I was a student on that time. If I got the GC I have to sort it out with the hospital. According to my uncle they have called and asked about me. he had told them that there is no one on this address under that name. They haven't even sent any letters after that.

 

[masematn]

The hospital will just hand over your information to a collection agency and it's them that will be trying to find you.

Hospitals sell such bills to collectors for the fraction of their value. Collectors are willing to get at least something, but they have to pay the hospital that fraction upfront, and therefore they must see that there is at list a slim chance of getting whatever. In this case, the hospital doesn't have enough information to track somebody down. A foreign passport is nothing, because it can expire any time soon. I dealt with hospitals and collectors at different stages of my life in US, and can tell that it is not a problem which can jeopardize a green card.

 

[MarcNZ]

Hospitals sell such bills to collectors for the fraction of their value. Collectors are willing to get at least something, but they have to pay the hospital that fraction upfront, and therefore they must see that there is at list a slim chance of getting whatever. In this case, the hospital doesn't have enough information to track somebody down. A foreign passport is nothing, because it can expire any time soon. I dealt with hospitals and collectors at different stages of my life in US, and can tell that it is not a problem which can jeopardize a green card.

I didn't think that it would jeopardise a green card. When I mentioned "problems" I was thinking of purely financial ones. I'm sure you are right that in many cases it is not worth the hospital pursuing the debt. Maybe this debt is low enough that they won't bother.

I have to disagree with your assumption that they don't have enough information to track him down though, we have no possible way of knowing that. Once back in the US, if they really want their money they may be able to find him, there is just know way of knowing whether they will feel it's worth their time or not.

So, I agree he MAY be ok, but I also know it's not a risk I would personally want to take - I don't think I would be able to sleep very well at night never really knowing whether they were trying to find me or not. But maybe that's just me...

 

[masematn]

I have to disagree with your assumption that they don't have enough information to track him down though, we have no possible way of knowing that. Once back in the US, if they really want their money they may be able to find him

It is more than assumption. As I mentioned before, I have a first hand experience dealing with hospital bills and collections. One of the most important lessons I learned was that different departments in US never communicate. Banks have no access to immigration files, USCIS cannot look up your medical records, etc. Of course, if crime is committed, and police steps in, everything becomes transparent. But in regular situations, hospitals send you three-four bills, then try to sell them to a collector. Collector calls you, sometimes they are very rude, but if your position is firm, they usually close the file after several months, and a negative record appears in your credit history... Since not paying a bill is not a crime, hospitals cannot do anything else. And again, medical collection is the easiest to remove from a credit file. A simple $50 unpaid cell phone bill is a much bigger problem than a $5,000 hospital bill, believe it or not.

 

[MarcNZ]

It is more than assumption. As I mentioned before, I have a first hand experience dealing with hospital bills and collections. One of the most important lessons I learned was that different departments in US never communicate. Banks have no access to immigration files, USCIS cannot look up your medical records, etc. Of course, if crime is committed, and police steps in, everything becomes transparent. But in regular situations, hospitals send you three-four bills, then try to sell them to a collector. Collector calls you, sometimes they are very rude, but if your position is firm, they usually close the file after several months, and a negative record appears in your credit history... Since not paying a bill is not a crime, hospitals cannot do anything else. And again, medical collection is the easiest to remove from a credit file. A simple $50 unpaid cell phone bill is a much bigger problem than a $5,000 hospital bill, believe it or not.

Yes, that's all fine. Maybe I wasn't clear in in post. I'm not questioning your assumption that hospitals and collection agencies don't feel it's worth going after every bill. They are a business like all others and will make a cost/benefit decision on whether it is worth it. I was just questioning the assumption that they don't have enough information to find him and that they will decide it's not worth it. There is no possible way to know that based on this thread. Only the OP and the hospital know exactly how big the bills were and what information was provided on the forms his wife signed.

 

[masematn]

There is no possible way to know

That is true... Especially in regards to this whole DV story. Sometimes I wish I had a close friend at USCIS who could answer all of my questions

 

[bentlebee]

I don't think his GC will be at risk, but once he is here he can be in for a surprise. Some people on other forums have written they couldn't get a rental due to background checs and all of a sudden a bill they had completely forgotten about showed up. I know most agencies and businesses aren't connected, but it is also known that medical bills are the hardest to get rid off....you don't want to be in for the surprise after a few months or years....with the high interest they will add.

We had one bill of $ 30.- that never was send to us and it ended up after a yr for $ 300.- All of a sudden they find us. Not for are reminder bill, they couldn't find us to send one but a collecting agency find us. It was a huge thing to get rid off since it wasn't our fault. Sam's Club paid for it, since it was their mistake but they couldn't get it off our credit report....it stays on their for years (7)...but our score is 750 but it was lower afte that stupid bill...all thanks to Sam's club mistake!

It isn't something you would like to deal with later on.