Overseas patients owe Wellington hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills.
Treatment costs for non-residents during the past two financial years at Capital and Coast District Health Board was $1,657,908.
The board says $817,039 remains unpaid, and of that amount, it has written off $61,339 as bad debt.
It says the most expensive case in the past financial year was dialysis for kidney failure, which reached a cost of $62,000.
However board spokesperson Michael Tull says most of the debt is made up of small amounts for such things as visits to the emergency department.
He says wherever possible attempts are made to recover the debt, as this is money that can be used for the treatment of eligible patients.
But Mr Tull says eligibility guidelines as set by the Ministry of Health are not a simple issue.
