Vancouver's Providence Health Care has filed a lawsuit against an Australian woman after her insurance company stiffed us for the majority of a hospital bill she racked up while visiting Canada. They're suing for $78,383.
For her 2019 treatment at St. Paul's, Jennifer Jackeline Rodriguez was initially invoiced $67,520, but her insurance company Global Excel Management decided to pull a number out of a hat and pay what they felt the treatment was worth.
They paid $23,889, which is 35% of what was billed because they said that number more properly reflected the amount that should have been on the invoice.
Unfortunately for Rodriguez, the law doesn't care about her insurance company's feelings regarding the actual costs of B.C.'s in-crisis medical system. The rates are approved by our health minister, and, as far as I know, he's never approved bartering on price after the fact.
It's not called universal healthcare because we provide free or discounted healthcare for the entire universe. It's funded for the public by the public, and if you're not a resident then you're on your own - or at the mercy of an insurance company that may or may not try to make up its own rules.
However these companies will continue to F around and find out, and while it's unfortunate that we'll continue to have to waste resources to sue vacationers to recoup some of our costs, it's the right thing to do.
