An Ontario man who wound up in Medicine Hat hospital following a heart attack en route home from B.C., also found himself with a $12,482.50 tab after being flown to and from Calgary for an angiogram.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Doug McGinley visited Medicine Hat twice this summer while driving from Oakville, Ont. to Victoria to move his daughter home. His family enjoyed their first stay, stopping for a few days to recharge. The second pass through, not so much.
McGinley started feeling chest pains as he approached Medicine Hat. When he arrived at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, he learned he had suffered a heart attack.
McGinley is emphatic about the quality of care he received while being treated in Alberta.
But on Aug. 3, his cardiologist explained he needed an angiogram – a diagnostic procedure that helps doctors observe arterial blood flow, and is not available in Medicine Hat. He would need to be transported to Calgary by air ambulance.
“As soon as he said ‘fly,’ I said, ‘Wait a minute – who’s paying?'” said McGinley.
He says he was reassured by personnel at the hospital that his transfer would be covered. He was flown to Calgary Foothills Hospital, where he received the angiogram and was flown back to MHRH before the day was through. He thought no more of it, travelling back to Ontario focused on his recovery from bypass surgery.
A few weeks later, he received a bill from Alberta Health Services for $12,482.50.
“I was just looking at the number, three or four weeks recovering from bypass surgery, and I almost needed it again,” he said.
The AHS website confirms what McGinley discovered too late: “Air ambulance services are not insured under the Canada Health Act, and in most provinces, are not covered by interprovincial agreements.”
AHS suggests that Albertans travelling outside the province acquire supplementary health insurance to assist with the cost of ambulance services and other services not covered inter-provincially, like prescription drugs and emergency dental services.
McGinley says he was taken by surprise, and he’s sure many Canadians are also unaware of this coverage gap.
“People think that’s an American thing. It sounds very American.” he said.
“We travel in an RV, so we go all over the place. Most of the time, if I’m in Canada, I’m in my country, so I think I’m covered. In my opinion, if it’s emergency health care, it should be covered.”
To add insult to injury, McGinley says he discovered after the fact that he did have supplementary insurance through his credit card. But that insurance only extended 15 days past departing the province. His heart attack occurred on the 17th day of their trip.
Ontario covers out-of-province transportation between medical facilities for diagnostic services provided that the patient returns to the original medical facility within 24 hours. McGinley’s transfer met those qualifications. But Ontario’s interprovincial insurance only applies for ground ambulance services.
McGinley says ground transfer was never presented to him as an option.
After receiving the bill, McGinley reached out to Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, which has directed him to AHS Patient Relations.
McGinley says the people he’s dealt with at every stage of this unfortunate series of events have been kind and helpful. He says his concerns are not related at all to the health care he received, or the administrators who have helped him try to navigate the process, but with the process itself.
“Why isn’t medical transportation for something that is a required medical procedure covered?” he asked.
“I don’t want anyone to think that this is a shot at Alberta or Medicine Hat or your health-care system, because it’s not. It’s just an information thing, to let people know that you have to have coverage. Even in your own country, which is disappointing.”
