{"id":15711,"date":"2019-06-18T01:17:31","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T05:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insurance-journal.ca\/article\/cutting-off-health-insurance-for-ontarians-who-travel-outside-canada-stirs-controversy\/"},"modified":"2019-06-18T01:17:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T05:17:31","slug":"cutting-off-health-insurance-for-ontarians-who-travel-outside-canada-stirs-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/06\/18\/cutting-off-health-insurance-for-ontarians-who-travel-outside-canada-stirs-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting off health insurance for Ontarians who travel outside Canada stirs controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Conservative government\u2019s decision to stop covering the health expenses of Ontarians who travel abroad is making waves. France G\u00e9linas<\/strong>, Ontario\u2019s New Democratic Party (NDP) health care critic, opposes the measure, notably because of its potentially dire consequences.<\/p>\n

G\u00e9linas,<\/strong> who is also the chief opposition Whip, stresses that this decision creates serious problems for people with chronic kidney failure treated by hemodialysis. Up to now, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) has been reimbursing $210 per treatment received abroad; dialysis patients require several such treatments each week. This coverage will end on October 1, 2019.<\/p>\n

According to the The Canadian Organ Replacement Register <\/strong><\/em>(CORR<\/strong><\/em>), 9,532 Ontarians with kidney failure were treated by hemodialysis in the province in 2017. \u201cFor these people, provincial medical insurance is often the only insurance they can obtain,\u201d to cover the cost of hemodialysis received abroad, G\u00e9linas told Insurance<\/em> Journal<\/em>. \u201cPatients cannot bring their machines with them. They would need four large movers to help them do that.\u201d Yet some dialysis patients are required to travel, for instance to study, work or visit relatives.<\/p>\n

Insurers to the rescue?<\/h5>\n

Christine Elliott<\/strong>, Ontario Ministry<\/em> of Health and Long-Term Care, recently contacted stakeholders to discuss ways \u201cto protect hemodialysis patients’ ability to safely travel abroad and to better understand the challenges facing these individuals,” her spokesperson Hayley Chazan<\/strong> told Insurance Journal.<\/p>\n

The minister also met with people receiving dialysis, and \u201ctold them that she would find a solution to keep them insured. The patients sensed that she may want to force insurers to sell them insurance,\u201d France G\u00e9linas explains. \u201cI don\u2019t know of any insurance companies that work pro bono. Even if they include hemodialysis in their coverage, if they sell it at a price that patients cannot afford, it is not a solution,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Hayley Chazan rebuts this allegation: \u201cTo be clear: Minister Elliott is not asking insurance companies to cover individuals who require dialysis while travelling outside of Canada. This is not part of our government\u2019s ongoing conversations with stakeholders.”<\/p>\n

The Canadian Life and Health<\/strong> Association <\/strong>(CLHIA) told Insurance<\/em> Journal<\/em> it has no comment \u201cfor now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decision outside the law?<\/h5>\n

Although the outcome of these discussions is still uncertain, France G\u00e9linas is \u201ckeeping her fingers crossed\u201d that the minister will reconsider her decision. The MLA wants Ontario to continue to cover all Ontarians travelling outside Canada. Her concern about the implications is heightened by \u201cthe federal government being involved,\u201d because not covering Ontarians abroad violates the Canada Health Act (CHA), she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cProvincial drug insurance must follow insured from one Canadian province to another, as well as outside Canada. It is one of the five conditions to meet to ensure that the provincial plan receives federal funding. Starting October 1, we will not be satisfying this condition anymore. Ontario is flouting this important law and is heading for a two-tier system,\u201d G\u00e9linas points out. In response, Christine Elliott\u2019s spokesperson says that \u201cCHA is federal legislation. Whether a province is in breach of the CHA is a federal determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the condition of \u201cportablity,\u201d stated in section 11 of the CHA, foresees that provincial health insurance plans \u201cprovide for the payment of amounts for the cost of insured health services provided to insured persons while temporarily absent from the province.\u201d The law states that if these services are \u201cprovided out of Canada,\u201d the amount should be equivalent to \u201cthe amount that would have been paid by the province.\u201d The Canadian provinces must satisfy this condition \u201cto qualify for their full share of the cash contribution available to them under the federal Canada Health Transfer,\u201d the law reads.<\/p>\n

Health Canada<\/strong> had not replied to Insurance<\/em> Journal\u2019s<\/em> queries on this topic by press time. Each year, about 20,000 Ontario residents use the OHIP program, which covers a portion of the health expenses they incur outside Canada. This service costs the Ontario government between $10 and $12 million annually. <\/p>\n

Read the original article at insurance-journal.ca <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Conservative government\u2019s decision to stop covering the health expenses of Ontarians who travel abroad is making waves. France G\u00e9linas, Ontario\u2019s New Democratic Party (NDP) health care critic, opposes the measure, notably because of...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}