Manitoban who travelled for surgery happy to see new out-of-province plan for hip, knee replacements

A day after the province announced a plan to outsource hip and knee surgeries to out-of-province partners, one man who travelled to get his knee replaced says he feels vindicated.

Max Johnson, 66, travelled to Lithuania about a year ago to get his left knee replaced.

“I hop, I walk, I kick things, it’s great! The knee is perfect,” he said.

After hearing the news that the province plans to have partnerships with three clinics in Ontario, North Dakota and Cleveland for Manitobans to go get surgeries, Johnson said he feels vindicated and also plans to ask the province for a reimbursement from his trip.

“I just wish we wouldn’t have been so summarily dismissed by the government for being ridiculous, when they’ve come up with the exact same conclusion only a matter of months later.”

Johnson said he made the decision to travel outside of Canada for the surgery because of the two-and-a-half year wait for a knee replacement in Manitoba.

He said what he did and what the province is now doing is the only solution.

His bill for his surgery in Lithuania was around $15,000 and he said he previously sent his invoices to the province for reimbursement, but he was denied.

But since the new plan is in place, he said he and other Manitobans he knows who travelled for surgery will be sending their bills to the government again.

“The Manitoba government should be responsible for our health and making you wait two-and-a-half years to have a significant operation is absolutely a dereliction of duty.”

A government spokesperson told CTV News Winnipeg that it’s had a referral-based out-of-province program in place for decades, adding, “Our government is currently considering cases that have travelled out of province and have paid for their own procedures.”

The new out-of-province deals are expected to start at the end of August and during September, depending on the clinic.