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Vol. 4 Issue 81
www.theolivepress.es
Jávea · Altea
May 19th - June 1st 2022
yorkshirelinencostablanca.com
Expats’ €14,000 medical bill because insurance company ‘wouldn’t answer phone’ after accident
A BRITISH couple have been handed a huge medical bill for hospital care, despite being fully covered by their private health insurance company. The expats have been slapped with a debt of €14,000 because of the company’s negligence - they claim. Dawn Bridge, a 50-year-old writer, originally from Cheshire, suffered a bad fall in her hometown of Mazarron, Murcia, in December 2021. Husband Adrian, an academic, immediately went to call the number on his nsurance medical card, believing emergency staff would be on call to deal with it. However, after a whole NINE MINUTES of waiting - while Dawn screamed in agony - the 59-year-old still had no answer. Eventually he was persuaded to call an ambulance by a concerned neighbour and a local emergency service turned up ‘within minutes’. She was soon receiving emergency treatment for two bad fractures at Cartagena’s public hospital Dawn to St Lucia. She also had to have a dislocated ankle put back into place. But, in reality, her problems had only just begun, as despite paying two premiums for a policy that promised ‘immediate access to care’ and ‘no copayments’ the opposite occurred. Indeed, on leaving St Lucia Hospital, some days later, they were handed
By Simon Wade
the bill which their insurance company REFUSED to pay. This despite them paying €1,300 a year. The main reason given; because Dawn was treated in ‘the wrong hospital’. “Yet during that week, I received no advice on transferring her to a hospital recognised by our insurance company,” slammed Adrian, a former history lecturer at York University. “We had no help in providing additional care, no communication and no explanation why our emergency call wasn’t answered.” And over the last half year, he claims they have received ‘not an ounce’ of concern or compassion regarding their plight. This despite Dawn still being heavily dependent on a wheelchair for mobility and having to endure intensive physiotherapy sessions. A remarkable email stream, the Olive Press has seen, demanded if the couple could ‘prove the [emergency] call’, and also questioned if they had even rung the right number. “We both feel totally abandoned, and lost within a spiral of confusion, bureaucracy and data protection,” continued Adrian. “If only they’d answered their own emergency number (and we’d gone to an appropriate hospital), my wife
BETTER DAYS: The Bridges on holiday and (right) Dawn after accident
would have been treated in a timely manner AND without costs.” Thankfully, the Cartagena Hospital has been gracious enough to offer the Bridges a staged payment scheme which eases the financial burden. In the meantime, they hope their experience might save others from the same pain, cost and anxiety. “It’s the principle,” insisted Adrian, “they’ve just washed their hands of us, all down to their own terrible service when we needed them most.” A spokesperson from St Lucia de Cartagena told the Olive Press “When the insurance company does not cover the PLUMBING & AIR CONDITIONING SPECIALISTS
services provided or the patient is not registered with Seguridad Social, we require them to pay the bill.” The couple paid €1,300-€1,400 a year for their insurance health bill. On deadline the Olive Press received a letter from the insurance company's lawyer saying that the company had acted ‘in strict and rigorous compliance with the terms of the policy’.
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Opinion Page 6