What are the legal implications if you visit the usa and you don't pay a hospital bill whilst you're there?

Question

Someone I know was landed with a $5000 bill for medical treatment in the usa. They paid $1000 before leaving the country and they haven't paid the rest and they don't have the inclination to pay the rest. They are planning to go back to usa but i wondered what would happen once they set foot there. I don't want this person to get into trouble but I do want them to realise how serious this is. Can someone give me an reply?

Answer 1

Your friend isn't inclined to pay the rest? What a winner! Just the sort of person we want to come to the US!

One repercussion is that if the person requires a visa, and the debt is known to the consular officer, the visa won't be issued at least until the debt is repaid,or possibly never; and if your friend is benefiting from the Visa Waiver Program, those privileges can be revoked - such a person is considered a public charge. The reasoning is sound - hospital bills left unpaid by foreign nationals are not just magically "written off" - the money comes from somewhere - either government funding, at taxpayer expense, or in the form of increased medical costs. That is why travelers are expected to have insurance coverage when in the US.

Answer 2

Well they owe the money no matter where they are, but its not like there is a debtors prison in the U.S. or an international watch lists for bad debts. What happens when someone uses the U.S. legal system to collect a debt is that the person owed the debt sues the debtor in civil court. The debtor either gets served a summons or is served by publication, which means that the person owed the debt puts an ad in the paper saying that the debtor is expected in court on a certain day. If the person does not show up a default judgement is entered against them and whatever assets they have are available for seizure by the party owed the money, up to the value of the debt. In a practical sense, given the situation you describe the person has probably ruined their credit, and if they are moving back to the U.S. to stay they will probably get harrassed and/or sued by a debt collector. If there is a court order that has been violated there may be a contempt warrant for their arrest, but these are usually only enforced in the county of the state where the warrant has been issued and they are rarely issued anyway. If they are only going for a visit they are probably ok.

Answer 3

The concept of civil court is to make a situation whole again. Assuming you are at fault for whatever happened, you could very well be made to pay for the plastic surgery to make a person look as close to original as possible. It is not an absolute. A bite to a face could very well get plastic surgery included in the bill. A bite in the butt that never gets seen by the public probably would not. It is not quite that simple. At least in America, everything in a civil case is up to negotiation prior to going to trial. As a previous poster mentioned, fault can be assigned based on the circumstances of the bite. If the person was in your house without your permission, you are nuts to even pay the medical bills. If the dog was in a fenced area on your property and the person crawled in, the person who got bit would have a tough time holding you liable. Even if you seem to be at fault, you may be assigned less blame such as if you are legally walking the dog on a leash and the person who got bit had a dog not on a leash they were trying to retrieve and they ran up to the two dogs sniffing each other and got bit in the process. I don't know much about foreign legal systems, but if you are in America get a lawyer. If you have homeowners or general liability insurance, contact them and they should provide legal counsel for you. If you don't have insurance, get a lawyer out of the phone book. If you are poor, call your local bar association and see if they have any programs to help people who can't afford lawyers.

Answer 4

I would imagine the hospital will have written the debt off by now and I dont see the immigration or the police getting involved with what is in fact a civil action IMO NOTHING REALLY MUCH TO WORRY ABOUT. The problem will come if they require medical treatment whilst over there

Answer 5

Not sure of the legal complications, jail time and what not. I think your friend would have a record and probably be fined or put in jail. I do know that the hospital will have to foot the bill so I would imagine they would make a complaint. If I was your friend I wouldn't set foot here till the bill is paid in full with a receipt.

Answer 6

A bad debt in the U.S. is going to follow this person around while in this country. The longer the person is here, the worse it will get.

If it is not paid, the person owing the money will have to explain every time they try to rent an apartment, utilities, get a phone, a car, car insurance and just about anything else it takes to live in U.S.

It would probably be best for all concerned if they just did not come back to U.S.

Answer 7

Nothing will happen. The hospital will write the debt off as noncollectable. It's a civil matter and, as long as no fraud was involved, there's nothing of a criminal law nature that can be done.

Answer 8

I think your friend needs to settle up his bill.

Sounds like he's a jackass if he plans to blow off the rest of it. And if he's that way, we'd rather not have him back in America, thank you very much.

Answer 9

They will be jailed as soon as they arrive at immigration not only that but Tony Blair signed some kind of extradition agreement with the Americans so he could be extradited

Answer 10

it is a civil matter, without any bearing on travelers. The hospital will most likely write off the account as unpaid and a loss.