Medical bills sent to Gagandeep Singh after he was assaulted in Kelowna have now been reversed.
Image Credit: GOFUNDME
April 09, 2023 - 7:00 AM
Interior Health has cancelled the medical bill for Gagandeep Singh, the victim of a race-based assault in Kelowna last month.
“I got a voicemail message from the acting CAO of Interior Health Authority apologizing for sending the bill,” Kelowna Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick told iNFOnews.ca. “She said they contacted Mr. Singh and reversed the bill and said it should never have gone out in the first place.”
Letnick came to Singh’s aid after learning the international student had left the emergency room at Kelowna General Hospital on the night of the March 17 attack because he didn’t have Medical Services Plan coverage and would not be able to afford to pay the bill.
Letnick called Interior Health CAO and president Susan Brown and Minister of Health Adrian Dix and got assurances from them both that Singh would not have to pay for his hospital treatment.
In a follow-up investigation, iNFOnews.ca found that not only had Singh been billed, but there was no apparent mechanism to cover such costs if someone did not have medical coverage.
READ MORE: Bills adding up for Kelowna international student beaten in suspected racist attack
Interior Health pointed out, in an email, that no one is refused treatment in B.C. hospitals.
“If it is determined there is no coverage, the patient is deemed as ‘self pay’ and they would receive a bill for the services provided after they leave," IH said. “There are no exemptions, however, there are specific instances when patients may be successful working with MSP to backdate claims.”
Those final words “backdate claims” are the magic words for getting treatment paid for, even for someone like Singh.
He’s an international student who has been in Kelowna for more than a year but never applied for basic MSP health coverage before his assault.
Getting such coverage is mandatory for everyone living in the province for more than six months but there is a waiting period of about three months before the coverage kicks in.
“If an individual was eligible for MSP prior to submitting their application, their coverage may be changed retroactively to their earliest date of eligibility (respecting the wait period),” the Ministry of Health explained in an email. “For example, if an individual arrived in B.C. in January 2022 but did not submit an application for MSP enrolment until January 2023, they may be eligible April 1, 2022. Their coverage may be retroactively changed to that date, if requested.”
While this loophole may not be relevant for B.C. residents because their MSP coverage is free, it’s different for international students.
They have to pay $75 per month for their coverage, an amount, it seems, that Singh was reluctant or unable to pay.
Likely other struggling students are in the same boat, although it is still unclear if such requests for exemptions will be routinely granted.
Singh has now applied for coverage after receiving more than $22,000 through a GoFundMe campaign launched by others. It appears that his application has been backdated.
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