Uninsured patients denied scheduled C-sections unless they pay $6,000, midwife says
In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
“The hospital would not book her C-section unless she pays $6,000 in advance,” Handa said, referring to one of her patients. “She has five weeks, she doesn’t have that money.”
The patient is a migrant from Central America without citizenship documentation, Handa said, and had her baby been born this week, the procedure would have been covered.
On April 1, the government of Ontario will end a program set up during the pandemic, which allowed uninsured patients to seek medical care. Hospitals and medical staff billed the government directly for their care.
A week ago, health-care professionals found out about the upcoming change, leading to demonstrations outside of Queen’s Park, shutting down the street around the Ministry of Health office in downtown Toronto.
“Ever since I’ve heard this announcement, I have been losing sleep,” said Dr. Shazeen Suleman, a paediatrician whose patients include refugee children and unaccompanied youth living in shelters.
One patient was 17 years old and weighed 35 pounds, she said, and hadn’t seen a doctor in years.
She says she is worried she won’t see some of her patients after Saturday ever again, and the ramifications could be dire.
“Children through no fault of their own are in this circumstance, and we are going to potentially let children die,” she said.
The government has defended its decision as a return to pre-pandemic reality, and maintain that people without insurance will still be able to receive care.
“There's no change in the way that uninsured persons will receive care in the province of Ontario,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones said on Monday.
“We’re going back to where community health-care centres, where emergency rooms, where individuals—who need services, OHIP funded services, and for any number of reasons do not have an OHIP card—have access [through these points of care],” she said.
Yet Handa says, like the rest of the health-care network, these centres are overwhelmed.
Her patients, she continued, are feeling overwhelmed and in some cases terrified.
“All of them, who were planning to have repeat cesarean sections—because that was safest for themselves and their babies—have asked me about birthing at home, alone,” she said.
Potentially putting two lives at risk, for every birth—a high cost to pay compared to a program the Ontario Medical Association says cost $15 million over three years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Slovakia's populist prime minister shot in assassination attempt, shocking Europe before elections
Slovakia's populist prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot multiple times and gravely wounded Wednesday after a political event in an attempted assassination that shocked the small country and reverberated across Europe.
Transport Canada's UFO 'lead' planned to meet with U.S. intel officials, called info requests a 'wild goose chase'
Canada's transportation department had a UFO 'lead' who tried to 'quell' media interest and planned to meet with U.S. intelligence officials.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver handed a cell phone ticket for using points app in McDonald's drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
'The Fly' has become notorious in France after a brazen escape. What's his criminal history?
A prisoner nicknamed “The Fly” has become notorious in France overnight after a daring and bloody escape from a prison convoy in Normandy that left two guards dead.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
Barge hits a bridge in Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill
A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a smaller and separate island that is home to a university, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Person responsible for 1996 drugging of 'Titanic' crew likely not a local: Halifax police
Halifax Regional Police believe a non-resident could be responsible for the infamous drugging of numerous crew members of the 'Titanic' movie with a hallucinogenic in 1996.
Latest updates on the biggest wildfires burning in Canada
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
OPINION If you think you can’t focus for long, you’re right: Sandee LaMotte
Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology -- a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.