PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia leaves Indonesian student with $15,000 medical debt in France

A young Indonesian student, Rendra Mondong, owes more than $15,000 to a French hospital. He had subscribed to an international travel insurance sold by PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia, the Indonesian subsidiary to Swiss insurance giant Zurich Insurance. While Rendra Mondong was fighting for his life in a remote country, and after delaying its answer for more than 10 days, the insurance company finally refused to pay for the medical expenses. No reason has been given for this refusal.
Only intermediaries could be reached, Mr Mondong has had no direct contact from PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia. The French hospital that was in contact with this insurance company is surprised, disappointed and shocked by such an unprofessional behavior.
As a result, a campaign is being launched to tell French authorities to refuse any Indonesian visa applicant with insurance bought from PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia. This insurance company does not seem to want to pay money owed to French public hospitals.
If you want to understand more about this situation, please read below the copy of the letter sent out to the French Embassy and the French Consulate in Jakarta, Indonesia by Bruno de Courrèges, a personal friend to Mr. Mondong :
On August 26, at 4AM, Mr. Rendra Mondong, an Indonesian citizen who was spending his holidays in St. Barths (Guadeloupe, France) had to be taken to the hospital.
The medical staff noticed that Mr. Mondong was bleeding internally, with no apparent cause. They took the decision to transfer him to the larger St Martin Hospital, on the neighbor island of St. Martin. This decision has indubitably saved his life.
However, while in St Martin, Mr. Mondon was still in a critical condition. He was bleeding to death and had to be given a lot of blood (transfusion), with additional blood air shipped from the main island of Guadeloupe.
On Thursday, he was given a fibroscopy and coloscopy to get a first diagnostic. As the days passed, the medical team had a clearer idea of what could have happened. He should be out of the hospital this Friday (September 5) and then fly back to Paris and Bali.
However, for these last 10 days, his insurance company PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia has not clearly stated whether or not thy would pay for Mr. Mondong’s medical expenses, although that have been notified only a few hours after the incident started.
To this day, nobody from the PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia has stepped forward.
With no real answer from the PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia , the St. Martin Hospital has received no guarantee that they will be paid for these medical expenses. And nobody had even mentioned paying for Mr Mondong’s plane ticket back to Indonesia.
The only contacts that the medical staff has received were from middlemen asking medical questions, but never telling wether somebody was going to pay for the expenses. For more than a week, PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia has been defaulting on its duty toward its client.
As I spend some time in Indonesia and I have connections in the country, I have tried to contact the company directly to help the hospital, but still with no effect.
The policy of this company seems to be to:
– accumulate medical information, day after day, hoping to find a way not to pay for the medical expenses of its clients,
– while never designating a company staff number in charge of the case
This incredible behavior is not that of the other global travel insurance companies.
To this day, the St. Martin hospital still does not know whether the medical expenses for Mr. Mondong will be paid. They asking to him, a student from Bali, more than $12,000.
Given this fact, I recommend the French Consulate in Jakarta should refuse all Shengen visas accompanied by an insurance from PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia . I have already contacted top person in charge of visas at the French Foreign Office..
I have also notified the head of French hospitals, who may have heard of similar cases due to PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia , to prepare for a class action to get back the money owed to French hospitals.
I am going to contact the French Bali newspaper La Gazette de Bali to let all French citizens know that they should not recommend PT Zurich Insurance Indonesia to friends travelling to Europe.
A group of friends of Mr Mondong’s is already organizing a campaign on Facebook and Twitter.
At the end of the week, a press release will be sent out to the larger public.

Best regards,

Bruno de Courrèges

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Should Zurich Insurance want to honour its contract, it can contact Mr Mondong at baron@fashion-fox.com.