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Paying for health care

7 years ago
My husband and I live in Piemonte 5 1/2 months a year traveling on tourist visas and our US health insurance covers us when we are outside the country. We do not have a permesso soggiorno. I recently had a health emergency that resulted in a visit to our local pronto soccorso, followed by an ambulance ride to a bigger hospital in a bigger town and 4 nights in the hospital. My purpose here is not to discuss the facilities or medical care, but to talk about the adventures of paying. The folks in the Accettazione, the payment office, kept asking for my Permesso and finally lacking that my passport, drivers license and insurance card. So far so good, but then came paying. There is no way under any circumstances to pay with a credit card. Luckily, we have a bank account here and they agreed to bank transfer. The bill was 3500 euro for care that would have cost 35K$ in the US. How have others paid for emergency and hospital care here?

Italian For A While
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