A woman who re-mortgaged her home to pay a U.S. hospital bill hopes the province will reimburse her.
Verna Kittleson, 62, is from Sprague, Man. She was forced to pay a $47,000 medical bill after having heart surgery in the U.S.
Kittleson said she first went to a hospital in Roseau, Minnesota where health expenses are covered for Manitobans under an agreement with the provincial government, but staff sent her to have surgery in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Kittleson said she was left with the bill when the province refused to pay. Along with taking out another mortgage, Kittleson was forced to drain her RRSP and savings.
“We’re strapped. We’re making it, but it’s not like we wanted to have to pay for our medical bill. We’d like to be able to put money into our RRSPs instead of taking it out, because of our age. We would like to retire, not be stuck with a mortgage for 10 years,” she said.
READ MORE: Manitoba man wins hospital bill fight
This week, Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen cleared another Sprague patient's six-figure U.S. hospital bill.
Robin Milne, who lives a few kilometres from the Canada-U.S. border, suffered a heart attack in October 2016 and sought treatment in a Minnesota emergency room. He was sent to get a heart stent at a facility in North Dakota, after waiting 90 minutes for a transfer to a Winnipeg hospital.
He later received a bill for $118,000, which the province eventually paid after Goertzen drove down to the U.S. and secured an agreement to clear Milne’s bill.
Kittleson hopes the province will do the same for her.
“I hope that they can cover all of our bills for everybody in the area that has been sent there and I hope that they can make changes to the agreement and make it accessible to everybody because you cannot get a hold of that agreement, whatsoever.
A spokesperson for the health minister was unable to provide a comment today.
With files from Sarah Plowman
