After months of worry, a Manitoba man has been told he no longer has to pay a six-figure U.S. hospital bill.
Robin Milne, 60, suffered a heart attack back in October at his home in Sprague, Man., which is just a few kilometres from the Canada-U.S. border.
He was rushed to the closest emergency room which happened to be in Roseau, Minnesota. The province of Manitoba has an emergency care deal with two hospitals in the state to cover expenses incurred by Manitoba residents there.
But Milne’s doctor in Minnesota told him he needed to get a emergency stent inserted into one his arteries. After waiting 90 minutes for an air transfer to a Winnipeg hospital, Milne took his doctor’s advice and went to a hospital in nearby Grand Forks, North Dakota for the stent.
That hospital isn't part of the agreement with Manitoba, though, and months later, Milne received a bill for $118,000. Milne worried he’d have to remortgage his house or use his retirement savings to cover the bill.
For months, the province’s health ministry would not say if it would be able to help Milne, saying only that it was investigating. But this week, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced he had driven down to the U.S. and secured an agreement that clears the bill.
Milne told CTV Winnipeg he’s relieved.
"We were always very hopeful. That was the thing that kept us going, was the hope that the humanity and compassion would be there, and we tried not to go on the negative side," he said Thursday.
Milne isn't completely out of the woods. He’s still responsible for paying about US$40,000 for his medical transport. The province says discussions are ongoing regarding that invoice.
In a statement, the health minister said additional clarity about eligibility is needed to ensure similar incidents don't occur.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg
