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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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$700 per stitch at Mammoth Hospital. Werner is right.
AS for the OP, call them with a credit card. They'll figure it out.
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DonC
climber
CA
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no, I'm good
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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So if they said wire transfer was one of the options, just ask them for their wire transfer account info and take it to your bank. They'll be able to do it no problem -- although they'll probably charge you ten bucks for it.
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JC Marin
Trad climber
CA
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man I was in the ER a couple of months ago for about 6 hours (turned out to be nothing major) and the bill (with my awesome insurance plan) was only $4,325.67
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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I did an ambulance ride to the ER and an overnight stay in a hospital room - all that was done was an IV and tests. Bill: $20k (the hospital I was taken to was out-of-network for the room and most of the doctors and tests).
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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They'll be able to do it no problem -- although they'll probably charge you ten bucks for it.
The last wire transfer I sent to France was $40.00 US. Did I say last?
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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^^ you have to have a PayPal account to use that service. Neither of us have one and neither of us want one.
Reading a bit more, it seems that Paypal charges a hidden fee of about 2.5% on the exchange rate.
See if Western Union will work for you here:
https://www.westernunion.com/us/en/send-money/app/start
There's a $10 fee for sending 100 Euros, and you can pay using a credit card.
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JimT
climber
Munich
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I run a business in Germany and get payment from all over the world so....
Some foreign banks still think the world uses the SWIFT system to identify banks (obviously yours does) but on the invoice it is probably called a BIC
(Bank Identity Code). The two are the same thing so on my invoices I write BIC(SWIFT) PBNKDEFF and youīll probably find itīs just BIC on theirīs. The account should be a long IBAN number (mine is DE86 7001 0080 0902 5818 xx). Youīll normally also need the name of the bank and maybe the adress if your bank isnīt used to international transfers.
The alternative is naturally to just change your dollars into 100 note and post it but I guess thatīs a bit simplistic!!!
And yes, Italy has universal health care like most of Europe but donīt be suprised if there is a certain element of do-it-yourself, Iīve been stitched back together for free but the tetanus injection I had to buy and do myself.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Can you imagine this going the other way? Euro visiting the US trips and breaks a ...toe. They go to Emergency - who wrap a little tape on it and call it bueno. Months later after they get home they get a bill for $38,000.00.
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Hoser
climber
Vancouver,Rome
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You can make a bonifico at your bank in euros for a fee, and then there will be a fee for the Italian bank as well - so its twice. So if you pay the 50 and only send 100 euros, they will only get 70 euros...so you need to make it for a bit more.
Nothing is easy or straight forward here.
You need
SWIFT CODE
Bank Code
IBAN
Bank Account Number
Emergency care here is free so I am not sure where the charge is coming from. But good on you for paying.
IF you have a website post it, I dont mind making the call for you if you like.
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Hoser
climber
Vancouver,Rome
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I run a business in Germany and get payment from all over the world so....
Some foreign banks still think the world uses the SWIFT system to identify banks (obviously yours does) but on the invoice it is probably called a BIC
(Bank Identity Code). The two are the same thing so on my invoices I write BIC(SWIFT) PBNKDEFF and youīll probably find itīs just BIC on theirīs. The account should be a long IBAN number (mine is DE86 7001 0080 0902 5818 xx). Youīll normally also need the name of the bank and maybe the adress if your bank isnīt used to international transfers.
The alternative is naturally to just change your dollars into 100 note and post it but I guess thatīs a bit simplistic!!!
And yes, Italy has universal health care like most of Europe but donīt be suprised if there is a certain element of do-it-yourself, Iīve been stitched back together for free but the tetanus injection I had to buy and do myself.
My Canadian account uses SWIFT.
I do not have BIC on my Italian account.
You do need the name and the address
In addition to universal health care, all emergency care is free for all, but not outpatient costs - however the costs are significantly less than Canada and US.
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10b4me
Social climber
Janie's
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In Nov I had a LifeFlight from Lone Pine to Loma Linda. About a one hour flight in a Cessna with pilot and one paramedic. Bill was $67k.
ridiculous
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beaner
Social climber
Maine
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Can you imagine this going the other way? Euro visiting the US trips and breaks a ...toe. They go to Emergency - who wrap a little tape on it and call it bueno. Months later after they get home they get a bill for $38,000.00.
I'm on a volunteer SAR team. We had a patient from Quebec with an open leg fracture and other trauma resulting from a pretty significant fall. He left with a >$80K hospital bill (LifeFlight ride, some surgeries, 3 days in the hospital) before he could return to Quebec for the rest of his treatment.
He had no insurance for the US healthcare system.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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This is EZ - call the clinic with your credit card in hand. Chances are nearly singular someone in health care there speaks English. Done.
Next option is to find an e-mail to the clinic and communicate that way.
In either case, Visa/Mastercard takes care of all the transfer details, happens everywhere a billion times a day.
Your other option is to ignore the letter. They have no way to collect. Bad karma, but an option. I do this with foreign traffic tickets, haven't been to a hospital.
EDIT - FWIW - I just got a bill from an anesthesiologist for $195k - works out to about $100k / hour. It's the most impressive bill to my insurance company yet. Between the docs, hospitals and insurance companies - they're all greedy fuks and I dislike all of them equally.
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Barbarian
climber
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Our healthcare system sucks.
We don't have a healthcare system. We have an insurance industry pretending to be a healthcare system.
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JimT
climber
Munich
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The SWIFT Code or SWIFT-BIC or BIC are all the same thing.
SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and they issue a Bank Identifier Code (BIC).
Depending on the bank or country itīs got various names but itīs always the same thing.
The IBAN number actually identifies the bank as well with the first two letters identifying the country, the next two digits are the proof total, the next group bank and branch and the rest the account number. It was a system promoted by the USA but never put in use there, itīs standard in Europe and a lot of the world.
Out-of-date banking systems always ask for the physical adress of the bank (my brothers in England does) but this is a problem in the modern age, my bank doesnīt have a physical adress for a start!
You tell your bank to transfer 100 to the account, that way the charges fall your end and they will recieve the correct amount.
The idea above that you call an Italian hospital with your credit card ready is laughable!
If the bill is unpaid standard practice is to sell the debt to a collection agency in your own country, an expensive procedure. Parking tickets are the same (I know this!). Or on entry to Italy anytime in the future you will be pulled over and made to pay (plus costs).
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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The idea above that you call an Italian hospital with your credit card ready is laughable!
Italy does not live in the 70's, nor do we.
Here's a hospital near the Dolomites with online bill pay.
http://www.aulss8.veneto.it/nodo.php/2235
I'd call, speak to a human being. It's nearly certain someone near the front desk knows English.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Suppose you just sit tight like I suggested
Let them come after the money
They'll accept it then
I bet
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