hello, i am italian and in winter of 2024-2025 i was temporarily visiting germany and had a medical emergency, i was put into the intensive care unit and then into a psychiatrist hospital. at the psychiatric hospital they tried to take my health insurance card and put it through, but it didn’t work. they told me id have to send a picture to my insurance company but now this came in the mail. i have no way of paying it and dont want in legal trouble. what should i do?

by No_Dress_3472

8 comments

  3. My father went through something similar last year, in that, he came to germany had to go to the ER and they had problems proccessing his insurance card. What he did is that he tried to settle it with the insurance company in greece and got a signed document that he is indeed insured within the EU and sent it to the hospital in germany. He didn’t have to pay anything by the end, i’d suggest you either do the same or try and contact the hospital you were in.

  4. You should run to the woods and hope they never find you.

    You could also contact your insurance at the time and let them sort it out, but personally I prefer the woods solution.

  5. The psych hospital doesn’t know how EU health insurance works. Of course your italian card doesn’t read. They should have given you a form to sign that you didn’t come to Germany for the treatment but it is an emergency. Then a german insurance would have paid for your treatment, instead they treated you as uninsured and sent an invoice.

  6. IDK how Americans handle these kinds of bills. It’s so weird, and also a big deal, when a relatively smaller one happens here in the EU.

  7. Italian here.
    In Germany the health service is private with a compulsory insurance for German residents. As you know, in Italy the health service is public.
    You were in good faith because you showed your health card to them, and it didn’t work for their problems, not yours.

    I advice to go to the local health offices (ASL/AUSL), and check what they can do. AFAIK you are covered for most of this money, except a few simbolic euro (10€/day in hospital), but I don’t know whether you have to pay and then get reimbursement or what.

    Don’t just ignore it. Debt collectors can work abroad in the EU.

  8. Vai alla ASL, mostragli la lettera e digli che ti serve il modello, possibilmente in inglese, che certifica che sei all’interno del SSN e quindi soggetto a copertura sanitaria europea. Prendi questo documento ed invialo a chi ti ha chiesto di pagare, e ricordagli che in quanto cittadino europeo sei coperto da assicurazione italiana e quindi non devi sborsare nulla. Probabilmente non lo sanno 

Comments are closed.