<p>Let’s say the situation is reversed and it was a Dutch 16 year-old here. Before treatment, a consent is signed by an adult guarantor agreeing to the treatment and the bill. The 16-year old will never be on the hook for the money. If the person is from overseas, I doubt many US hospitals would bother trying to collect. In any case most US hospitals will negotiate with deep discounts for a non-insurance patient payment. Perhaps this applies there too. So the question to me is more eithical - who should pay and how much. In both cases, I believe the child is not liable.</p>
<p>When we’ve been abroad, insurance companies have paid for treatment. We had to pay first, get documentation and the insurance reimbursed us. Perhaps something like this should also be tried - it may just be a matter of documentation. </p>
<p>Which finally leads me to the question of free health care in Europe. I guess even they have fine print.</p>