An Ontario family says they were shocked when their daughter needed an emergency appendectomy in Mexico â a surgery that came with a staggering $46,000 price tag.
Fortunately, the family had purchased insurance mere days before the trip and their physician says the story serves as a cautionary tale for Canadian travellers who go abroad.
Last week, eight-year-old Hannah began complaining about stomach pain during a family trip at a resort in Puerto Vallarta, her mother told CTVNews.ca.
Minal and her husband, who asked that their last names be withheld as they deal with insurance, took Hannah to the resortâs on-site doctor. They were then referred to a local private hospital.
âAs parents, we were both really freaked out because weâre in a foreign country [and] we donât speak the language,â she said, adding she was grateful her doctors spoke English.
The Oakville, Ont. mother said they charged approximately $4,000 on their credit card to pay for the first CT scan.
Hannah was quickly taken into surgery after doctors diagnosed her with appendicitis -- an inflammation of the appendix that can be life-threatening if the organ bursts.
Minal called the ordeal a âbig eye-openerâ because nearly everything -- blood tests, nurse consultations, and even, choosing a hospital room -- needed to be cleared with their insurance company.
The family typically doesnât purchase travel health insurance, so she was relieved that before the trip, her husband purchased a plan that covered their daughter too.
âI have to say, in retrospect, thank God,â she said, adding that she didnât appreciate how much the ordeal would have cost without insurance, until they had returned back to Canada.
MANY PARENTS 'DON'T TAKE OUT TRAVEL INSURANCE'
Their family doctor, Dr. Rick MacDonald, called the $46,000 price tag âextraordinaryâ and âfairly excessive.â
âWhen they told me the price I literally fell onto the floor,â he said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca from an Oakville, Ont. clinic.
âBut thatâs the kind of thing youâre going to have to expect because youâre in a predicament where you donât have much of a choice,â MacDonald said. âIf your appendix ruptures, then youâre in big trouble.â
On Tuesday, he used Hannahâs story to warn his followers of the dangers of travelling outside of Canada without flight cancellation insurance and medical insurance.
âMany of our patients travel all the time and Iâm sure that many of them donât take out travel insurance,â he told CTVNews.ca. âIâm sure most people donât do it.â
Minal said the whole ordeal has âabsolutelyâ changed how sheâll travel going forward. âI donât think I will ever travel for pleasure again without having travel medical insurance -- especially with kids.â
APPENDICITIS HORROR STORIES ABOUND: DOCTOR
But the situation couldâve been a lot worse.
MacDonald recalled an incident involving an eight-year-old patient who was diagnosed with appendicitis while on a cruise trip with his family near the Caribbean. He had to wait until they reached a nearby port in the order to be treated.
âAnd by the time he had got to [the surgeon], he had a ruptured appendicitis,â he said. After two week-long stays in two different hospitals including one in Miami, the family ended up paying an âatmosphericâ amount but MacDonald couldnât recall exactly how much.
Plenty of other travelling Canadians have had trouble dealing with insurance companies recently.
In February, David Ronald was seriously injured in Costa Rica where he claims he was stranded for six days waiting for his insurer to find an open hospital bed in Canada.
The 58-year-old underwent two surgeries in Costa Rica after a catastrophic fall left him with a shattered pelvis, broken arm and broken back on Feb. 15. He and his wife said their insurer told them no beds were available in Canada. He was later airlifted home.