Nuffield Hospital - Credit Card
Discussion
Standard procedure. I have had mine taken at the start of any claim. I have seen one person refuse, but he had been referred by the NHS, and maybe rightly, wasn't willing to hand over his card. He was a bit of a t
t about it though, but hadn't counted on how fierce receptionists can be 
t about it though, but hadn't counted on how fierce receptionists can be Red9zero said:
Standard procedure. I have had mine taken at the start of any claim. I have seen one person refuse, but he had been referred by the NHS, and maybe rightly, wasn't willing to hand over his card. He was a bit of a tt about it though, but hadn't counted on how fierce receptionists can be
I'd be pretty unhappy to be even asked if it was an NHS referral.t about it though, but hadn't counted on how fierce receptionists can be I've given it for our private visits - used our local one quite a few times and never had an issue with the card being charged, and I've twice had issues with Bupa being really awkward about settling bills.
It's one of those situations where I'd always use American Express though - as I'd be more confident of them sorting out issues than other card providers.
croyde said:
Yep, it's so they can sting you if insurance plays up.
If your insurance are paying for it then they would have pre-authorised the facility and specialist. It wouldn't hold up with the FOS if they turned around and said they aren't paying for it once authorised.Most likely the hospital will be taking card details in case you don't show up for whatever reason and they would charge a "did not attend fee", if you haven't given them prior notification of you not showing up or have some other valid reason
Radec said:
croyde said:
Yep, it's so they can sting you if insurance plays up.
If your insurance are paying for it then they would have pre-authorised the facility and specialist. It wouldn't hold up with the FOS if they turned around and said they aren't paying for it once authorised.Most likely the hospital will be taking card details in case you don't show up for whatever reason and they would charge a "did not attend fee", if you haven't given them prior notification of you not showing up or have some other valid reason
It was a work benefit. No way I can afford insurance now I'm not working
Radec said:
If your insurance are paying for it then they would have pre-authorised the facility and specialist. It wouldn't hold up with the FOS if they turned around and said they aren't paying for it once authorised.
It's always struck me that it's remarkably informal, normally done by you getting verbal authority from your insurer and telling the consultant and hospital to send them the bill. There must be cases of people saying they've had authorisation when they haven't, or they go beyond the scope authorised.The one time we did get an authorisation in writing Bupa refused to pay because they'd authorised an in-patient procedure but on the day it was decided it could be done as (massively cheaper) out-patient. I gave that to my employer to sort out - likely they'd have just paid it themselves.
Another time Bupa wouldn't pay as the hospital costs were more than they said they should have been for the procedure carried out. I left that for the hospital and Bupa to argue out.
Sheepshanks said:
Radec said:
If your insurance are paying for it then they would have pre-authorised the facility and specialist. It wouldn't hold up with the FOS if they turned around and said they aren't paying for it once authorised.
It's always struck me that it's remarkably informal, normally done by you getting verbal authority from your insurer and telling the consultant and hospital to send them the bill. There must be cases of people saying they've had authorisation when they haven't, or they go beyond the scope authorised.The one time we did get an authorisation in writing Bupa refused to pay because they'd authorised an in-patient procedure but on the day it was decided it could be done as (massively cheaper) out-patient. I gave that to my employer to sort out - likely they'd have just paid it themselves.
Another time Bupa wouldn't pay as the hospital costs were more than they said they should have been for the procedure carried out. I left that for the hospital and Bupa to argue out.
Your email confirmation should outline what has been agreed and also some t&C's of the policy.
If people go outside what has been been agreed, the insurer should investigate why it was.
You get instances where you've had something agreed, the specialist might say since you're here we might as well carry out this test as well, which might not be covered but you've not notified your insurer, ends up you may have to foot the bill.
Always best to update your insurer first if anything different is suggested outside what has been agreed, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Where the hospital billed as an out-patient instead or in-patient, the insurer would usually have a hospital team that would have investigated it with the facility you used and queried why it was billed that way, the insurer would have either got the hospital to write it off or just paid your bill as it wasn't your fault.
Insurers will usually have recommended fees they pay for procedures which hospitals have agreed to in their contracts with them.
If the hospitals charge above this and it gets back to the insurer, they will usually pick it up with the hospitals, the insurer will pay the cost up to the agreed fee then tell the hospital to do one for the shortfall. Again, this wouldn't be your fault.
WyrleyD said:
I had a self-pay pre-paid blood test at Nuffield Cambridge and they wanted my card at check-in, nothing happened and no extra charges were levied.
In the majority of cases that’s all that happens but in giving them your card you’ve given them the ability to take payment from your card.If more of us declined they’d stop asking. I’m not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
bad company said:
If more of us declined they'd stop asking. I'm not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
For a lot of private consultation/treatment the whole cost must be paid in advance (unless pre-cleared if you have insurance).The Nuffield card swipe is mainly to cover small stuff that arises from tests, scans etc. Chances are the Specialist(s) will be billing you directly for their input to the project with you just paying the actual hospital costs to Nuffield.
bad company said:
WyrleyD said:
I had a self-pay pre-paid blood test at Nuffield Cambridge and they wanted my card at check-in, nothing happened and no extra charges were levied.
In the majority of cases that s all that happens but in giving them your card you ve given them the ability to take payment from your card.If more of us declined they d stop asking. I m not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
Do you really think someone working at a hospital is going to take money from your account, It would be so easy to trace it back to them and then they'd get the sack.
Groomio said:
bad company said:
WyrleyD said:
I had a self-pay pre-paid blood test at Nuffield Cambridge and they wanted my card at check-in, nothing happened and no extra charges were levied.
In the majority of cases that s all that happens but in giving them your card you ve given them the ability to take payment from your card.If more of us declined they d stop asking. I m not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
Do you really think someone working at a hospital is going to take money from your account, It would be so easy to trace it back to them and then they'd get the sack.
bad company said:
Groomio said:
bad company said:
WyrleyD said:
I had a self-pay pre-paid blood test at Nuffield Cambridge and they wanted my card at check-in, nothing happened and no extra charges were levied.
In the majority of cases that s all that happens but in giving them your card you ve given them the ability to take payment from your card.If more of us declined they d stop asking. I m not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
Do you really think someone working at a hospital is going to take money from your account, It would be so easy to trace it back to them and then they'd get the sack.
Groomio said:
bad company said:
Groomio said:
bad company said:
WyrleyD said:
I had a self-pay pre-paid blood test at Nuffield Cambridge and they wanted my card at check-in, nothing happened and no extra charges were levied.
In the majority of cases that s all that happens but in giving them your card you ve given them the ability to take payment from your card.If more of us declined they d stop asking. I m not aware of any other hospital groups that do so.
Do you really think someone working at a hospital is going to take money from your account, It would be so easy to trace it back to them and then they'd get the sack.
Radec said:
I can't speak for all insurers but once you get pre-auth, you should receive an email confirmation along with an authorisation code which you give your hospital, this would normally come after you've had it over the phone.
Your email confirmation should outline what has been agreed and also some t&C's of the policy.
If people go outside what has been been agreed, the insurer should investigate why it was.
You get instances where you've had something agreed, the specialist might say since you're here we might as well carry out this test as well, which might not be covered but you've not notified your insurer, ends up you may have to foot the bill.
Always best to update your insurer first if anything different is suggested outside what has been agreed, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Where the hospital billed as an out-patient instead or in-patient, the insurer would usually have a hospital team that would have investigated it with the facility you used and queried why it was billed that way, the insurer would have either got the hospital to write it off or just paid your bill as it wasn't your fault.
Insurers will usually have recommended fees they pay for procedures which hospitals have agreed to in their contracts with them.
If the hospitals charge above this and it gets back to the insurer, they will usually pick it up with the hospitals, the insurer will pay the cost up to the agreed fee then tell the hospital to do one for the shortfall. Again, this wouldn't be your fault.
I don't think I've ever, apart from the one Bupa case where they sent it in a letter, had the authorisation by any other means than verbal, and we (company) have used most providers over the years.Your email confirmation should outline what has been agreed and also some t&C's of the policy.
If people go outside what has been been agreed, the insurer should investigate why it was.
You get instances where you've had something agreed, the specialist might say since you're here we might as well carry out this test as well, which might not be covered but you've not notified your insurer, ends up you may have to foot the bill.
Always best to update your insurer first if anything different is suggested outside what has been agreed, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Where the hospital billed as an out-patient instead or in-patient, the insurer would usually have a hospital team that would have investigated it with the facility you used and queried why it was billed that way, the insurer would have either got the hospital to write it off or just paid your bill as it wasn't your fault.
Insurers will usually have recommended fees they pay for procedures which hospitals have agreed to in their contracts with them.
If the hospitals charge above this and it gets back to the insurer, they will usually pick it up with the hospitals, the insurer will pay the cost up to the agreed fee then tell the hospital to do one for the shortfall. Again, this wouldn't be your fault.
I just had a look back at a course of investions a few years ago and at one point someone conducting one of the tests emailed me to ask for the auth number, and I've emailed them back saying I called Axa for the number and gave it to her, so I mustn't have had it. IIRC correctly Axa just note the claim - when my wife had a cancer issue they said just do whatever you need to, no need to come back to us. Her main treatment was NHS but she had some peripheral investigations at a Nuffield hospital - we didn't ask first, and they paid without query.
The inpatient / outpatient issue with Bupa was because, while our inpatient cover was unlimited, outpatient was just £500, so the treatment blew through that. Bupa were really hard-faced about it - saying it didn't matter how much I complianed, they weren;t going to pay.
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