Does any one know the billing policy of this hospital? Do they require payment for surgery upfront or do they go through your insurance and bill later? Thank you.

Cash up front usually.

Cash in advance

Who pays 'cash in advance' for anything ?

"BHPL’s Accounts Department can help you with preparation of your insurance claims. Most local and International health insurance plans are accepted. For persons not covered by health insurance, we accept cash, check, credit card, or money order payments. Our friendly admission staff can help you with your financial decisions."

This is what their website says. I guess I still don't fully grasp how it all works. I have a pre-existing neurological condition that doesn't affect me daily in anyway, but sometimes throughout my life I may need surgery for it. In the 27 years I've been alive I've only had the surgery twice. I'm planning to move to Belize for good so odds are I may need this surgery sometime while in Belize.

I've done independent research and know that Dr. Cervantes at Belize Healthcare Partners Limited is excellent and fully capable of helping me should I need surgery. I plan on having international med insurance while in Belize. Last time I had the surgery was 3 years ago, I went to the hospital right when I had symptoms, which makes things go much easier and I was out of the hospital in just two days. Total bill before insurance: almost $40,000!

I'm obviously never going to have $40,000 or anywhere near that much in the bank. So what do I do if I need surgery? Put it on a credit card? What's the point of having insurance then? And how can they possibly bill you in advance when so many things are up in the air, such as how the surgery will go, how much medication I'll need, and how long I'll be in the hospital?

I know, a lot of questions and a lot of worrying when I'm years away from even moving to Belize. I'm fairly young and don't know everything yet so be gentle!

Is it just for elective surgery that they charge upfront? Even if the surgery is cheaper in Belize then it was in the US, let's say 50%, that's still $20,000. You can't even put that amount on a credit card usually. So if I can't use a credit card, insurance doesn't cover it til after the fact, and I don't have that kind of money in cash, what do I do? Would they really deny me the surgery and send me home to die?

What if I'm rushed to the hospital and incoherent when I get there? How can they expect someone to wait and pay upfront when they need emergency medical care?

Healthcare Partners is a private hospital and they do what they have to do to stay financially solvent and able to provide excellent care.

The government hospital will take you in an emergency and will do what it can without upfront payment.

You can put $20,000 on an American Express card - the plain green one in fact. I have excellent medical insurance, needed a medivac plane to fly to a hospital - US insurance, US hospital as destination, US flight service. We had to pay 100% of the air-evac before we got on the plane, even though they checked with the insurance company and were informed the flight was covered. That amounted to $24,000. AmEx covered it. As I recall, the insurance company issued a check directly to AmEx two days later, and AmEx canceled the charges.

I agree that being prepared for health issues is important, and applaud you for taking this aspect of life seriously, but Belize is a relatively unpredictable place. You get to know the options and roll with them.

Thanks Diane. I have the names of three neurosurgeons in Belize, and was told each of them was good. Maybe one of them works at a public hospital.

My condition is life threatening if left unchecked, but usually progresses over a matter of weeks, before I end up having the surgery. So maybe if worse comes to worse I'll just hop on a plane back to the States.

I recommend you communicate personally with a neurosurgeon here before actually moving to see if the medical treatment you need is available either at the public hospital or even privately. There are some things not available thru the government hospital. If you are going to live in San Pedro or Caye Caulker, remember they are islands and it costs quite a bit of money to be flown out as an emergency to the mainland and much, much more for air evacuation to the USA.