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Back in 2017 I visited Ireland and utilized the emergency room for a minor medical issue over at St. Vincents in Dublin. Upon leaving I was told that I was "all set" and no bill was incured.

However many many months (now over 2 years ago) later I received a few voicemails from a collections agency in Ireland looking to collect a debt for this hospital visit. I never paid the debt as I thought it was erroneously charged to me.

I'm hoping to travel to Ireland this fall and I'm now wondering if this will create a situation in which I'm denied entry to the country. Is this possible or am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?

Happy to pay the debt but I have no idea where to start.

Nostromo
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  • How about contacting the collections agency? – Xnero Jun 26 '20 at 12:51
  • It was quite awhile back and honestly I've lost the letter that they sent me. – Nostromo Jun 26 '20 at 13:01
  • How about calling them again? – Xnero Jun 26 '20 at 13:02
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    I will try doing that but my main concern is being denied entry due to this issue in the event that I'm unable to resolve it before hand – Nostromo Jun 26 '20 at 13:09
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    Where are you coming from? what is your passport? how are you getting there? – Oscar Bravo Jun 26 '20 at 13:25
  • I'm coming from the United States. – Nostromo Jun 26 '20 at 13:29
  • I ended up paying the bill....I'm still curious if this would be something that would preclude some from getting into the country – Nostromo Jun 26 '20 at 14:08
  • Is this a minor bill or more significant (not that I'm sure it makes a difference, just strange you were told you were all set before you left only for it to come up years later) – Uciebila Jun 26 '20 at 14:49
  • It amounted to about $300 US so not an exorbitant amount of money but still sizable – Nostromo Jun 26 '20 at 15:01
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    Perhaps https://www.stvincents.ie/contact-us/. Frankly I am a little surprised that they involved a collections agency, I would verify with the hospital first. Sounds a bit like a scam to me. – copper.hat Jun 27 '20 at 07:06
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    I'm confused. In the question you 'have no idea where to start', and in an early comment you've 'lost the letter', yet an hour later you 'ended up paying the bill'. Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling us? –  Jun 27 '20 at 08:14
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    @Arthur’s Pass. Also, in the question they left OP a voicemail, but in the comments he lost a letter they sent. – Darren Jun 27 '20 at 11:47
  • @Nostromo (1) this was almost certainly a scam, be very careful that you are not scammed further, eg your card charged again etc etc. (2) regarding your question, there is absolutely no chance this would affect in any way your entry in to the country. Enjoy! (But watch for the scam.) – Fattie Jun 27 '20 at 12:22
  • I agree with copper.hat, it could be a scam. Scammers got their hands on a list of the hospital's former patients and wrote about a fake unpaid bill. With the many recent data leaks, it is possible to buy this kind of lists on the dark web. – Taladris Jun 27 '20 at 12:30
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    Contact the hospital, not the collecting agency. It might be a scam. – Mast Jun 27 '20 at 12:34
  • May or may not be a scam. It could also be a billing mistake. My anecdote: I once went to an emergency room once for a knee problem. I gave all my info but never received any billing. 12 months later I got a bill for treatment of a hand. Not only had the hospital screwed up by not billing me for 12 months. They also sent me the wrong bill. So don't assume that any medical billing is perfect. – Peter M Jun 28 '20 at 22:11
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    Allow me to clear up a few things; 1. They (The Hospital in question) sent me a letter and I lost in quite a while back. 2. I received phone calls from collections but I discovered after speaking with a person in patient payments that the Hospital has a collections unit; I assumed it was sent to collections.3. The process was actually very easy. I started the conversation with emailing the hospitals billing department and was able to handle the payment / communication through a secure patient payment portal. All very legit and surprisingly easy to resolve. Ireland here I come in the fall! – Nostromo Jun 29 '20 at 17:25
  • @Nostromo Might be worthwhile adding this as an addendum to the question? I am still a bit surprised that they told you that you were all set but subsequently charged you. – copper.hat Aug 26 '20 at 21:35

2 Answers2

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I can't say whether you're likely to be denied entry to Ireland, but if a debt is due you should really pay it. Fortunately, it should only take a short while to confirm the details, and payment can usually be sorted out within a couple of days.

Call the hospital's main phone number. Explain the problem to whoever answers the phone and they should be able connect you to the right department.

They'll be able to confirm the amount of the outstanding debt, if any, and may be able to take payment by credit card immediately, or advise how to pay.

Since the debt has apparently been passed to a debt collection agency you might have to deal with them. The hospital can tell you exactly who and should be able to give you contact details. Call the agency and discuss payment arrangements.

International payments are trivially easy. If you can't pay by credit card, a call to your bank in the US should get you the information you need to send the money that way.

A word of warning: this could be a scam. Talk to the hospital first, and if you do send money, use a traceable system like the banks. Don't use Western Union!

  • "International payments are trivially easy" - uhhhh... well, not from the US they aren't. There's a lot of form-filling I have to do with my US bank to use SWIFT/IBAN, and I don't think hospitals and legitimate collections agencies will accept PayPal or Western Union. – Dai Jun 27 '20 at 20:25
  • @dai The OP seems to have gone from having no idea where to start to paying the bill in about an hour, so it can't be that difficult. –  Jun 27 '20 at 21:19
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Ireland has a similar but not exact legal system as the UK. The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) deals broadly with criminal code whilst the description of your circumstance would fit within the civil code. Criminal law essentially relates to offences and breaches that negatively affect society as a whole, rather than just one person.

Civil code deals with disputes between companies, organisations, individuals, etc It's highly unlikely that INIS would be aware of your circumstance or predicament with the hospital bill unless you were applying for naturalisation. Only then would they want to know if you are a good citizen and would request your file (if any) in the civil courts in order to make a decision.

The issuance of visas are straight forward as INIS follows their own guidelines and they don't involve third parties. A good example is a case where a woman reported her husband (CEO of a company) to have an affair with a lady (foreign alien) who was working for his company. Her permit was renewed despite the allegation.

If you have had your debt for a while, just know that after six years have passed, your debt may be declared statute barred - this means that the debt still very much exists but a CCJ cannot be issued to retrieve the amount owed and the lender cannot go through the courts to chase you for the debt.

The CCJ may still reflect negatively on your credit score and lenders may be unwilling to lend or offer a mortgage. If you owe the debt, I recommend that you pay it.

Stinger
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