Kolping: White House Weighs Broader Immigration Curbs New rules would clamp down on countries whose nationals overstay their visas Wall Street Journal By Louise Radnofsky and Rebecca Ballhaus Updated April 14, 2019 7:32 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—President Trump and his top aides are weighing rules designed to clamp down on countries whose nationals overstay short-term visitor visas as part of a broader push for new ways to curb immigration.
The effort would target nationals of countries with high overstay rates of such visas, which include the African nations of Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to Department of Homeland Security data. The U.S. as part of a new rule would tell the countries’ governments that if rates don’t reverse, then future visas could be shorter or harder to get, according to an administration official who described the move as putting those countries “on notice.” Ultimately, nationals from countries with high overstay rates could be barred entirely, though the official said no ban is now under consideration.
If you are truthful during your interview and your POE, this should not be an issue since the amount of time you are permitted to stay in the US depends on the purpose of your visit that you informed the Officers. If you are not truthful, it will catch up to you.
lollyberry: Hello house, am so sad right now, my husband just got refused
I gave birth on 2015 using oakbend medical centre and Dr f was my doctor, fast forward to 2018 I renewed my visa and I was not called for 221g interview, and I also applied for my 2 other kids and they got the visa, we're planning to go for this Xmas vacation as a family and my husband decided to try again after the last year refusal (he actually wanted to visit network alone then>
To cut the story short,
Vo. Ur passport Hubby. Gave him Vo. Why u traveling Hubby. To take my family on this coming xmas vacation Vo. Do they have passport Hubby. Hand it over to vo Vo.ur wife used a medical visa Hubby. Yes Vo.Did she tell you she got 11000 discount and the hospital is not known for a good reason Hubby. Wow.but we did not ask for discount that is the bill they gave her I made sure she paid, if the had given me the exact amount without discount I wish have paid it. Vo. OK type type and type. Vo. The last time u applied u wanted to visit newyork Hubby. Yes. Wanted to spend 10 days of my leave so I pick New York . Vo..habe u travel out for pleasure before Hubby. No Vo.so this time you want to visit Houston Hubby. Yes. Vo.type forever and next thing is denial
Am so confused now because I don't know if it was the discount that brought about thee rejection. Or no travel history.
If it's the discount, then why did they issued a visa in the first place. So angry
Will be taking the kids for Xmas vacation alone
Exactly. It seems some people are now understanding the arbitrariness of the situation that has turned the Visa interview into bureaucratic racism. If patients showed their price quotes from the hospital before they embarked on their first journey and the Visa was approved, then why is their own criteria not enough when its time to renew? Patients have to have very precise documentation from a doctor experienced with this process with specific explanations regarding their price quotes otherwise VO's will use the lack of info as their excuse.
Amerly: Pls anyone assist with an email of an affordable Hospital in US so I can begin my visa application. Pls I also need more info of the whole process urgently. Thanks
OmoBendel24: CULLED FROM QUORA. May be of some help, discussable methinks with particular attention on the parts in red and green....
How can I convince the US visa officer that I accepted Medicaid by mistake? I did not know about the US insurance system and I canceled it as soon as I know. Since then I have always bought health insurance. I need to get a new visa for my job.
Pat Hedden
You can’t. Birth tourists are generally from middle class and upper middle class backgrounds and do research online and talk with friends before coming to the US to give birth. You accepted full coverage of child delivery expenses through Medicaid because you didn’t know it would impact getting another visa. In the past, many women got away with sticking US taxpayers with the hospital bills until US consular officers got wise and started asking to see receipts. Because of this, some women negotiate reduced charges so they have receipts to show. Hospitals are forced to accept whatever the tourist will pay since there’s nothing stopping them from skipping out on the bill and leaving the US. US consular officers know expected costs for child delivery by city or region and still deny visas to women who clearly didn’t pay the full costs for services they elected to receive by visiting the US to give birth. Moreover, you can’t cancel or reimburse Emergency Medicaid once it’s paid. Please warn your friends thinking about giving birth in the US, so they’ll learn from your mistake. If you choose to visit another country in order to give birth to a citizen who will come back later and get free or subsidized education and other benefits, then the least you can do is pay your bills while here.
Although the above is true with patients that arrive with no planning at all, arriving at hospitals without any knowledge of pricing. These patients would be billed the standard fee and then they would negotiate and the hospital would have to accept to avoid them skipping the bill as stated above.
It is important to notice that the hospitals now have the rates permanently and offer these services BEFORE any patient arrives or offers any type of payment, there is no negotiating and there is no bill previous to this. Patients are not "skipping" bills because they are prepaid before the service is rendered and have nothing to do with the above mentioned.
Youngjenny: hello @leez29 please its my first time and i want to use doctoresparati as well , can you please email me so that i can get a bit more help @shadyj38@yahoo.com
What you offer is an international patient fee schedule, it is not the same as an uninsured discount Your targeted clientele are international patients and it states that on your website. Every single testimonial on your website as of 9pm ET March 24th is from international patients You have an advertised fee schedule for this group You do not have an advertised policy for uninsured US residents that can be reviewed and confirmed to be the exact same as that employed for international patients I would hazard a guess that internationals make up the bulk of your business You may or may not offer the same prices to domestic uninsured and even if you do, we know the latter have access to financial aid that international patients are not eligible for So, you see, you are not comparing apples to apples
Your business model already makes it clear you are not like most other hospitals in the country so you really should be careful to not confuse my countrymen in this matter of uninsured discounts. Hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, Mercy Miami, to mention a few, have clearly advertised uninsured discount policies that exclude international patients.
Your business model is obviously working for you but you can't speak for other hospitals who have clear policies that are different for the uninsured and for international patients. If I were you, I would just focus my message on being an hospital that is specialized in serving international patients with a fee schedule that has nothing to do with uninsured discounts. There really is no point getting into the uninsured discount debate, your business model is vastly different from those who offer uninsured discounts and simply can't be bothered to sift through who is domestic or not when the term "self-pay" fits all.
I hope you don't misunderstand, we see local uninsured patients and offer the same rate. Let me rephrase, the price offered to international patients is the price originally offered to the uninsured and is in fact how the price became about. It would be wrong to discriminate on this variable if all else is the same and if there is no reason to charge more. Letter explains specifically on this matter:
If I were to offer advice to anyone who does not already have prior birth drama, it would be to find a state and hospital you can afford, tell them you do not want the uninsured discount, you just want to pay the international patient rate.
FYI. The uninsured discount and the international patient rate you talk about... both are the same price. A letter from a hospital has been posted here explaining exactly that. www.doctoresparati.com offers the same.
DebsMed: Yet wondering how the Hospitals are running a scam and the scam isn’t checked and stopped in-house rather than going after those that are ignorant victims too. One does not know what the definite expectations are also. Avoidance is the surest now, will just advise friends and family to do so and face Canada instead
Canada is not on good terms with birth/maternity tourism. You may want to google that.
Nigerians are not the only people in desperation seeking to give birth in the US....the Chinese, Indians, Russians are all seeking in high numbers trying to give birth in the US and are required to pay more for it.
I know cases of people from China, India who are facing the same ordeal with renewing their US visa after they have been caught getting discounts medical charges for child birth in the US.
I understand that this forum is mainly geared for Nigerians and so most of the feedbacks and complaints about the US visas extra scrutiny will be mostly from Nigerians.
I can tell you as a fact, from the patients arriving at El Paso, Nigerians are by far the most scrutinized.
babydesh: Hello Everyone, Please this is a question for any mama that has recently used del sol,elpaso.I went through their website and found out that there's a list of laboratory tests required by them but there was no cost to these tests attached.Please can anyone brief me on how much they paid for the tests and also any other additional charges apart from the delivery cost. Thanks and God bless.
Your doctor will advise you of the tests. He/She will send your information/tests to the hospital before your delivery.
The bolded has been my concern since my second refusal in December 2018, despite going with a well detailed letter from the hospital explaining the huge discount.I’m honestly considering reapplying just to ask how I can exonerate myself from this whole mess I didn’t consent to.. if the embassy is insisting that the hospital are running some fraud or scam whatsoever then, it simply implies that We are Victims and its unfair that we Nigerian get to pay for it.
On another note, my friend told me about a lady her visa was refused based on her previous bill, she had a total bill of $4500 and tried to renew for another birthing trip. After her refusal, she got a hospital that quoted 33k for child birth, her husband paid 20k upfront, she got an interview date and her visa was ISSUED.
You are correct. Hospitals are not running a scam, they simply want Nigerians to pay more. You can pay more than the discounted price at www.doctoresparati.com you just have to request it.
But then, only Nigerians resident in Nigeria are suffering this. I know a lot of people living in Europe that paid same amount or even leas and got their visas renewed via Dropbox. I guess that's why most people are asking questions. If it's a hospital fraud, it should apply to everyone that paid the discounted price and not just people living in Nigeria. Even my friend in Ghana had her visa renewed easily and she paid $3500 for both hospital and doctor for a vaginal delivery. So back to the question of what our offence is.
Is this applicable to all hospitals? I hope we know this discount is not applicable to Nigerians but all self pay patients. I know of two white ladies, one british, the other chinese who had their baby in the US and they were billed the same amount i was billed because they are paying cash.
This is what has been mentioned several times. They are available to all, and visas are being approved in all other countries, only Nigeria is "having issues".
Of course not. They don’t get paid $30K. But neither do they get paid $2500 too! My deductible and co-insurance itself was almost, it not more than $2500. And that’s me with insurance. So how come self pay patients pay what I pay as my patient portion even after insurance has paid their part? How are the hospitals breaking even?
Here’s a screenshot from my insurance portal, to put things in better perspective for you.
You said it best, that is YOUR insurance. Not all insurances pay what you think you paid, and Medicaid, which is the benchmark that is used as to what not to bill under, pays even less than the self pay packages that hospital and doctors charge.
I understand how you must feel because you've faithfully been paying your insurance payments only to realize that you could have saved a lot of money just paying out of pocket. If you dont know now how insurance companies in the US "work", Im not surprised that you cant grasp this.
Ultimately you can keep your insurance, pay your premiums, and your deductible, and continue having your babies the way you are doing, this topic is really not for you since you are insured and has nothing to do with you.
So you really believe that these hospitals are doing close down sales promotion? A bill of $30,000 will be discounted down to $2500 just because you are paying cash?
It's not a loss, the hospital simply bills you the amount that some insurance companies and Medicaid would have paid them if the patient would have applied for this (hospitals don't lose money). The only difference is the hospital now gets it up front (without risk).
Do you really think that the hospital gets paid $30,000 if insurance companies or Medicaid bill that amount?!? LOL.
U cant pay anytin ones ur account has been closed. I know people currently in this situation and they were told its not possible due to account closure
El Paso is accepting payment from patients who wish to pay their discounts, it's been mentioned several times. It's unfortunate that people have made payments toward the hospital and doctor, not owing anything, just to receive a receipt of paying a higher bill, but its available. Its also been mentioned that El Paso is still honoring the previous prices but the hospital and doctors (www.doctoresparati.com) will also bill more if the patient wishes to pay more.
El Paso (www.doctoresparati.com) is confirming that both the doctor and hospital will honor the discounted prices or non-discounted price for the amount that patients want to pay above the maximum discount. Please note that the discount rates are not govt subsidized and non-discounted rates are at the petition of the patients.
JMarines: I have been on the phone with a few hospital reps over the last couple of days and one thing they emphasized was that everyone has to be treated fairly and on that note if you are self pay, you are entitled to a certain percentage of discount. I told them I wasn’t interested in the discounted package and they said it is standard procedure for them and that’s what keeps them at a competitive edge. At this stage, I’m running out of ideas as to decide on what step to take next.
Please who knows of any hospital in Houston that offers a non-discounted package? Help a sister, thanks.
There have been several patients approved for Visa in El Paso ([url]doctoresparati.com[/url]) that have requested to pay more than the minimum amount. Even though the Embassy can easily call the hospital to verify if any hospital is using govt funds or not, they choose not to inform themselves. In any case, $18,000 seems to be the number they are looking for.
For patients that are now asking to pay a higher fee to avoid any issues during Visa renewal, www.doctoresparati.com which uses Del Sol Hospital, are both having the option for patients to pay whichever amount they want with the price on the website being the maximum discount. In other words, patients' can pay whatever amount you want to pay in excess ($5450-$18,000) since there seems to be a trend as to who is able to renew their Visa. A letter is also provided that states that Medicaid nor any type of govt funds are used to subsidize any of the patients' medical fees for all bills. The discounted prices are still available and are not subsidized by Medicaid or govt funds.
Gosina: I tried getting an adjusted bill with no discount from doctoresparaati but they said I have to enrolll first and that means paying $150 . I just need it for visa purposes , please can anyone help me with the full adjusted bill from doctoresparaati ? what is the breakdown like ? Please it’s urgent as my interview is on the 19th. Thank you .
As with most clinics, payment is needed to receive any documentation. At times, the embassy calls to verify your information, cost, and appointment, if you are not enrolled, nobody can confirm what you are telling the officer.
Both category of patients are billed say $22,000, but the self-pay is given a discount of roughly 75%. That $22,000 still appears on the bill for the self-pay patient making it look ridiculous.
I understand that you've said that the insurance companies dont even pay the $22,000 that they are billed but only a fraction. However the US govt doesn't believe that we the self-pay are entitled to same fractional payment. Maybe because most of the insured are on a longer term contribution to the economy of the US than the short term visitors.
I've told you before that the highest I got for using a type of medical service in the US was 50% for paying cash. Applying 50% to a bill of $22,000 would bring the cost of birthing to $11,000. This has been the average "LET MY PEOPLE GO" mark for Visa officers.
I commend health care providers that are ready to give the non-discounted package to patients who request for it. I would have said a 25% discount was okay but I think the US is ramping up for full payment in the long run.
While I understand your point I am merely stating facts, not an opinion, as to how it is that the price is as low as it is in some hospitals. Also of concern is the fact that it is only Nigeria that is being subjected to this new standard, other countries are applying for Visas without issues so it's not the discount that is bothering the VO's. And lastly, ALL hospitals will bill the complete price if patients ask for them. There have been patients that ask for the complete price at Doctoresparati and they have been issued the normal price or whatever price they are willing to pay above the discounted price. Basically, the patients are paying whatever they want in El Paso, either the discounted price or anything above that.
So do US residents who use private health insurance get this same discounts offered to them
The discount is available to all self-paying patients regardless of where they reside (local or international) or those who have medical insurance who are unable to afford their high deductible and would rather pay cash. Neither Medicaid or any kind of govt subsidy is used to offset the patients' financial obligations.
Patients with private health insurance are billed differently since the insurance companies negotiate with hospitals what they will pay (they do not pay the amount that you see on the bill). The price they pay as well as what Medicaid is about the same price that is given as a discount (or even less). This has been posted before. The best weapon during your interview is to be informed. The Embassy knows this, you just have to have the correct answers when they are asking questions.
Vo. But let me warn you, It takes about 20,000 Dollars to give birth in Texas if you get there and they offer you any form of discount i'll advice you decline because if you and pay less than the average amount of 20,000 Dollars someone will be here waiting for you in 2 years time when you want to renew your visa and you might be denied. Me. Thanks Noted
This is a real issue now shopuld leave reasonable hospital charge for an expensive one.... Anyway just to share my experience for other people benefit. All the best to all
Unfortunately, some patients asking to pay full price at Doctoresparati in El Paso, TX as well. Although the discounts offered are not linked to any kind of govt subsidy, it is sad that Nigerians are paying more than other patients since people from other countries pay the discounted price and have no issues. In any case, www.doctoresparati.com is sending the paperwork with the non-discounted prices and billing the full price upon request.
It was really sad because I paid what I was billed, and the hospital wrote that I didn't use any insurance or medic aid.
My question Is Oakbend running a fraudulent package? Because I don't understand why the VO is not recognizing their bills and receipt as legitimate, heck if I was billed 18,000 I would pay it. I don't understand why we should suffer for a hospital's shaddy business, because that's what I can deduct from this. I was very confident going for the interview, refuse me for another reason but not on the basis of not paying, because I paid all that I was billed.
My advise now, don't ask for self pay patient discount anymore, just pay what a citizen would pay.
In my opinion, those hospitals are the ones that should be scrutinized and not the innocent patients that pay what the hospital bills them.
Any advise on the next step I can take?
No. Not a fraudulent package and it is not subsidized by Medicaid or any type of government subsidy, it seems VO's are simply using it as an excuse to deny your Visa. El Paso (doctoresparati.com) is sending documentation that specifically states that that the discount is not only not subsidized by any type of govt program but it is also available to anyone (International or US Citizen) who requests to pre-pay, a standard fee. This has increased the number of Visas approved since the officer may (and has) call to verify. Nevertheless, there are still those who are denied without even asked for documentation as soon as they mention childbirth as their purpose of visit and not given any reason for the denial.
You still haven't given up on this your baseless argument.
No matter the amount of anger or frustration you spew out about the US visa process it is not going to change anything about them.
Your anger and frustration should be spewed out on the Nigerian government who has caused uncountless amout of Nigerians to seek desperately to make sure that they have their babies abroad mainly for US/Canada citizenship.
Anyways, you can continue with the nagging and fustration comments if it's the only thing that is going to keep you sane.
We prefer self-pay international patients than US patients with Medicaid. International patients pay out a little more since the patient is typically seen only at the end of the pregnancy, payment is paid upfront, and there is no Medicaid paperwork to be filled.
I was talking to a financial officer recently about the discount issue offer to self pay patient
“Usa operate a zero tolerance policy on fraud so if the embassy or anybody fit the hospital discount offer to international patient is a fraud then the FBI would have been invloved with criminal investigation but it not the case here .. The discount issue is just a quick way to refuse visa applicant Which cannot be appeal and limited foreign child birth in usa which is a baseless excuse to the hospital because self paying patient are more profitable to the hospital than the insurance company
Simply correct. Other countries are not having issues with their Visas or at the POE.
ope532: Dear mother's in the house.can i still get appointment in January for giving birth in usa. please give advice I hope to hear from you soon nairaland home thanks.
mabok: Good day everyone, pls which state in the usa is the most convenient to give birth? i want to travel in march but due in july.
Texas is widely considered the most specialized and most popular state for Maternity tourism. www.doctoresparati.com, is located in El Paso, Texas as well.
Pls I just woke up to this message from the lady in charge of my Dr's email. I don't knw what to do and my interview is on 15th January. I HV limited time to start getting another Doctor...I need ur advice pls.
am writing to let you know of a miscommunication between me and Dr. Huebner. Dr. Huebner thought you were arriving now to establish care. We do not accept transfer patients that late in the pregnancy. So this is to inform you we will not be able to accept you as a transfer patient.
Travel / Re: Give Birth In USA: Cost And Procedures Part 6 by Vlesparza: 7:55pm On Apr 15, 2019 