Health-card chaos leaves more than 9,000 Manitobans without coverage, paying for care

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This article was published 24/01/2024 (639 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 9,000 Manitobans are waiting months for a provincial health card, as the backlog to process applications forces more residents to pay for care that would otherwise be free.

The clock is ticking and the bills are piling up for Pinawa resident Marjorie Wiebe, who has been caught in a bureaucratic logjam that has left her without provincial health coverage for more than a year.

“It’s unfeasible,” Wiebe told the Free Press. “I can barely afford paying the doctors’ bills.”

As of Jan. 19, 9,180 applications for health cards were in the province’s queue, the government said.

The backlog hit a massive 24,453 applications in mid-November.

A 28-person team is currently responsible for whittling down the backlog (up from a 16-person team in September 2022).

Wiebe, who moved to Manitoba from Alberta in October 2022, has lost confidence in universal health care.

“As a Canadian citizen, you have access to health care in any province — that’s part of what we fundamentally base ourselves on — and yet me, as a Canadian citizen born in Canada, I can’t get access to health care without paying for it,” she said.

“Explain that to me.”

As of Wednesday, Wiebe said she did not know the status of her application, which was first submitted in December 2022. No one has reached out to offer an update and her attempts to call and email the government office haven’t produced any useful information, she said.

Ensuring seamless health coverage after the move had been a priority for Wiebe, who has thyroid disease and a chronic condition that causes her gallbladder to over-produce bile.

However, since settling in Manitoba, she has paid out-of-pocket twice to see her doctor and is covering the full cost of her prescription medication. After suffering a gallbladder attack last fall, she also covered a $300 bill for emergency care in Selkirk.

She said the situation has become untenable. Before relocating to Manitoba, her physician recommended surgery to remove her gallbladder, but she has been unable to get a referral without proof she is registered with the province.

She now fears what will happen if her condition takes a sudden turn for the worse, and she requires emergency transportation and care. The financial stress and uncertainty have worsened her overall condition, she said.

“Why should I have to take that risk with my life and with my health?” she said.

“I shouldn’t be put in this position,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to think of a plan to care for myself in a country that provides free health care.”

The province said it was processing applications submitted on Aug. 14, 2023, more than five months ago, as of last Monday. The turnaround time is supposed to be four weeks.

Under the federal Canada Health Act, provinces cannot impose a waiting period of more than three months on new residents before they are eligible and entitled to insured health services.

The law — which establishes the conditions for provinces to receive funding through the Canada Health Transfer — also states insured health services must be provided in a way that doesn’t impede reasonable access by a patient, “either directly or indirectly whether by charges made to insured persons or otherwise.”

The province said the unit responsible for processing health cards is currently staffed at 123 per cent of its typical complement. The number of other health-card related requests in the queue, including for address and name changes and out-of-province coverage, was not readily available, a spokesman said.

Health Canada spokesperson Anne Génier said the federal department is monitoring the situation in Manitoba.

Charging patients for medically necessary hospital and physician services represents a barrier to care, Génier said in an emailed statement.

“It is Health Canada’s understanding that although Manitoba is experiencing delays in processing health cards, it is backdating coverage as it issues them, which means that patients are reimbursed for expenses incurred.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland’s office deferred comment to his department.

Premier Wab Kinew pinned the costly delays on the former Progressive Conservative government. The NDP is committed to completing backlogged applications and expanding access by opening offices in other parts of the province, he said.

Paper health cards will eventually be a thing of the past, the premier added.

“There’s a serious issue here that’s a result of the chronic and persistent vacancy-management approach that was used under the previous government,” Kinew said, while warning it will take time to address delays.

When asked what people waiting for a health card should do if they cannot afford to pay for care, Kinew said the province will get them the necessary documents.

“That is the plan,” he said. “We’re going to staff up the department of health to ensure that health cards get delivered more quickly.”

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross said there are not enough people in the insured services branch to handle applications. The vacancy rate across the civil service is around 30 per cent, he said.

“We’re willing to work with government to try to get these services to a standard that Manitobans expect,” Ross said. “We have a new collective agreement that’s tentative… so hopefully that ratifies, and when and if it does, it will give the government more tools to hire people, because they’ve fallen behind.”

The extra administrative burden and cost of helping people without health cards are also starting to pile up in physicians’ offices, Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Michael Boroditsky said.

“Doctors are concerned about the long delays for patients in obtaining their Manitoba Health card and coverage, especially if that means some patients are delaying necessary medical care,” Boroditsky said in a statement.

“While there has been progress on reducing the wait time, it is still unreasonably long and we hope to see this matter resolved as quickly as possible.”

Interim PC Leader Wayne Ewasko was not made available for an interview Wednesday.

In a prepared statement, the Lac du Bonnet MLA said he’s personally received several complaints from constituents about health cards. The Kinew government needs to deliver a plan to address the delays, he said.

“The NDP ran their entire campaign on health care, and yet they are offering no solutions to this health card backlog other than playing politics and casting blame,” Ewasko said. “Instead of cutting ribbons on PC health initiatives, it’s time to see solutions from the NDP, especially on this issue.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca