It should have been a beautiful sunny holiday in Mexico. But after an unfortunate fall, Suzanne van Herk broke a vertebra and ended up in hospital. She still lives in Mexico with her family, waiting for a flight home. But once back in Asten, all is not well. There is still a very expensive hospital bill of 56,000 euros, which is not reimbursed by her insurance.
On the phone, Suzanne sounds remarkably cheerful. She is in the hotel in Mexico where she is staying after her operation with her husband, daughter and son. She can walk short distances again, wearing a corset. But to make the long flight to the Netherlands, she must be transported lying down. “I can fly from Thursday. But I don’t know yet when I can return home. There must be a spot available somewhere.”
Together with her husband and two children, Suzanne thought she would have a nice holiday at a tropical place. But when she walked towards the sea with her daughter a week ago to take photos, her nightmare began. “There are some kind of sandbags at the beach that you have to cross to get to the sea. I slip and fall with my back on that sandbag, which feels like concrete.”
“Whether we wanted to immediately pay five thousand dollars.”
Suzanne soon realized that something was wrong. She was in tremendous pain and felt her arm, neck and legs tingling. An ambulance was called to take her to hospital. “But you have no say in where you go. It turned out that I had ended up in a private clinic and we immediately wanted to pay five thousand dollars for a scan.”
That money is paid, the scan is made and then the next bad news follows. “It turned out that a vertebra was broken and that surgery was necessary. This was not something I could fly home with.”
What followed were a lot of phone calls to the Netherlands. Because: Suzanne’s travel insurance did not cover the operation. “We do have worldwide coverage, but it does not appear to cover medical costs. We have had this insurance for twenty years. You assume that you are well insured. But apparently twenty years ago I should have indicated that we wanted to insure additional medical costs.”
“The surgeon will not operate if there is no agreement about the money.”
And the health insurance couldn’t help Suzanne much further. “I have basic insurance there. But apparently only the costs of such an operation are reimbursed, of what it would cost in the Netherlands.”
Because Suzanne was in a private clinic, the hospital offered a price of $ 150,000 for the operation. “That’s shocking, we couldn’t afford that and the insurance wouldn’t cooperate.” Suzanne lay flat on her bed in uncertainty for three days. “I lay there with the fear that I would become paralyzed and from the Netherlands it seems as if you are not getting any cooperation. You are desperate and don’t know what to do. The surgeon will not operate if there is no agreement about the money.”
“Apparently I didn’t read the fine print properly somewhere.”
Fortunately for Suzanne and her family, they receive good help from employees of the Dutch embassy in Mexico. “We really had to negotiate the price of the operation. Just like buying a car.” Ultimately, 76,000 euros was agreed and Suzanne could have surgery. “Now it’s getting a little better every day and we’re waiting for the flight home.”
The health insurance will reimburse 20,000 euros of the 76,000 that the operation cost. This leaves Suzanne with a bill of 56,000 euros. Girlfriends are now one crowdfundingscampaign started to help the family with the costs. “We are grateful for all the kind messages, condolences and donations, large and small. Really heart-warming. I blame myself that perhaps I should have inquired more about my insurance, in my opinion I have always done that well. But apparently I did not read the small print properly somewhere.”