wco81
100+ Posts
Had a bad encounter with health care while I was visiting Mallorca in April.
I didn't research the options for what to do if I should become sick. I didn't really research travel health insurance either, partly because there's some coverage with credit cards I have and I may yet get some reimbursement through my regular health insurance.
But in the absence of planning or research, I got caught up with a for-profit part of the health care system in Spain, with a less than scrupulous organization.
This private hospital requested 2 large deposits at two different points over a 24-hour period and then a final balance. The first deposit used Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) so they submitted a dollar amount after converting with a much higher than prevailing exchange rate.
This led to a dispute about the final balance, which they were planning to submit using DCC again. I disputed this final charge, which they sent through without my consent. In fact they sent it after I left the premises so they don't have a signed receipt.
My credit card company is not going to dispute this charge. Here's a more detailed writeup that I posted on Flyertalk:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...disputing-foreign-transactions-chase-dcc.html
The lesson, be wary of private hospitals in Europe, or at least Spain or Mallorca. I don't know how things would have proceeded if I'd gone to a public hospital but hard to imagine they'd have the same profiteering approach.
The other lesson, be careful with credit cards. As I note in that FT thread, Chase doesn't require signed receipts even for large transactions.
I didn't research the options for what to do if I should become sick. I didn't really research travel health insurance either, partly because there's some coverage with credit cards I have and I may yet get some reimbursement through my regular health insurance.
But in the absence of planning or research, I got caught up with a for-profit part of the health care system in Spain, with a less than scrupulous organization.
This private hospital requested 2 large deposits at two different points over a 24-hour period and then a final balance. The first deposit used Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) so they submitted a dollar amount after converting with a much higher than prevailing exchange rate.
This led to a dispute about the final balance, which they were planning to submit using DCC again. I disputed this final charge, which they sent through without my consent. In fact they sent it after I left the premises so they don't have a signed receipt.
My credit card company is not going to dispute this charge. Here's a more detailed writeup that I posted on Flyertalk:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...disputing-foreign-transactions-chase-dcc.html
The lesson, be wary of private hospitals in Europe, or at least Spain or Mallorca. I don't know how things would have proceeded if I'd gone to a public hospital but hard to imagine they'd have the same profiteering approach.
The other lesson, be careful with credit cards. As I note in that FT thread, Chase doesn't require signed receipts even for large transactions.