Ottawa warns provinces not to charge fees for medically necessary services – National | 24CA News
The federal well being minister is warning provinces to not cost Canadians charges for “medically necessary” care, together with telemedicine and a few non-public providers, in a brand new letter launched Friday.
“There has been evidence of residents paying out of pocket to access diagnostic services such as ultrasounds, MRI and CT scans — services that should be accessible at no cost,” stated Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos in an announcement.
“This is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.”
He additionally famous within the letter that he’s “very concerned” about growing stories of sufferers being charged for “medically necessary” providers and that whether or not these are delivered just about or in individual, they should be accessible freed from cost.
Duclos says he plans to make clear the expectation in an interpretation letter hooked up to the Canada Health Act, which lays out the requirements of care Canadians should have the ability to obtain underneath the general public well being care system, irrespective of the place they stay.
He can even be deducting a complete of $82 million in Canada Health Transfers from the provinces over “patient charges levied during 2020-2021, for medically necessary services that should be accessible to patients at no cost.”
This contains over $76 million in deductions underneath the Diagnostic Services Policy, which says that sufferers shouldn’t be charged for medically crucial diagnostic providers, comparable to MRI and CT scans.
Another $6 million can even be deducted for different insured providers at non-public surgical clinics and for entry to abortion.
Duclos stated the federal authorities was clamping down on out-of-pocket bills for personal care “with a focus on virtual care and other medically necessary services that Canadians are being asked to pay for.”
Duclos despatched letters to all provinces and territories, expressing issues a few latest enhance in stories of affected person prices for medically crucial providers.
“The goal of the Canada Health Act (CHA) has never been to levy penalties, but rather to ensure patients are not charged for the insured services they have already paid for through their taxes,” he stated in an announcement.
“If a province or territory permits patient charges for medically necessary health services, a mandatory deduction must be taken from the jurisdiction’s CHT payments.”
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