Saskatchewan Family Renews Reimbursement Requests for $ 832,000 Out-of-Country Medical Bills | The Canadian News

Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman says he is willing to review the case of a family who was denied coverage of more than $ 800,000 in medical fees outside the country.

Merriman told reporters that his office had already reached out to the Finn family, originally from Saskatoon, and said he is willing to meet with them again.

“I would be more than happy to sit down with them and have a discussion with the updates,” said Merriman, who did not rule out reimbursing the costs of care, a request the Health Ministry has so far denied.

“I will view this with a completely open mind. I’m not going to go in and just reiterate the talking points. “

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Kristin Finn, who joined the Saskatchewan NDP before Monday’s question period, told reporters how she and her husband delayed retirement, moved to Kansas City from Saskatoon for work, and paid “just $ 832,000” out of pocket. for life-saving medical services. they take care of their little boy, Conner.

But he argues that all of that could have been avoided if the province had not denied reimbursement for care outside of the country.

“We have tried to follow government policies and procedures, we have filed a complaint with the ombudsman which is now pending, we have filed a complaint with the human rights commission,” Finn said Monday.

“We still have a problem where the government does not want to respond to our request for reimbursement.”

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Conner has adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare disease that causes inflammation in the brain, and received a stem cell transplant in 2020 at the University of Minnesota.

Finn said that when he was first diagnosed last year, an MRI scan revealed that the disease was in an advanced stage and that stem cell treatment was needed.

But he said the family was told that Saskatchewan does not offer pediatric stem cell transplants.

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The family told Global News earlier this year that the province gave them the option of receiving the transplant in Winnipeg or Toronto, but there was no clear timeline or an ALD specialist to treat Conner.

He said they undertook a “comprehensive search across the country” and determined that the University of Minnesota was the closest place to where Conner could get treatment more safely and quickly. The family traveled there amid the pandemic.

It was in Minnesota that a specialist, who reviewed Conner’s MRI, told the family that treatment was needed immediately.

The Finnish family decided to go ahead with the treatment even though the coverage had not been approved.

“We were left with the decision to sit and wait and possibly fall out the window for the transplant and watch out for the child to deteriorate and die, or to liquidate our retirement savings to secure treatment, so we ended up doing that,” Finn explained. .

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Adrenoleukodystrophy stem cell transplants are different from stem cell treatments for cancer, Finn explained, in that intense chemotherapy is needed to help repair the recipient to receive donor cells.

She said that delayed treatment, or treatment administered incorrectly, can actually increase inflammation in the brain and lead the patient more quickly to complications with vision, motor skills and more.

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She said the family’s metabolic doctor in Saskatchewan even wrote to the Ministry of Health saying that receiving treatment at the University of Minnesota would give Conner the best possible outcome.

A note from the Saskatchewan Health Services Review Committee recommends that the Ministry of Health reconsider coverage of Conner Finn’s out-of-country medical coverage. Courtesy: Saskatchewan NDP.

Courtesy: Saskatchewan NDP

That gave her more reason to seek care at the university, which she says treats about 70 percent of the world’s adrenoleukodystrophy patients.

“Minnesota was the best place for him,” he said, explaining that the family appealed to the Health Services Review Committee.

“The Committee decided that Conner’s treatment should be covered due to lack of experience and the fact that they could not provide a schedule for Conner’s transplant. But the government decided to go against that. “

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Kristin Finn was joined Monday by Andrew McFadyen, who is the CEO of the Isaac Foundation, an Ontario-based foundation that focuses on advocating for families facing rare diseases.

McFadyen agreed that, particularly due to the urgency of Conner’s situation, the University of Minnesota was the only option to treat him in a timely enough manner.

“There are no AML experts in Saskatchewan. There was no one who could guide. No one who could help treat. No one to help ensure that Conner was receiving the best possible care, ”he said.

“No referrals were made to places like Toronto or Calgary, and I can guarantee you that if those referrals were made, those centers would have sent them to Minnesota because it is the right thing to do. And if a referral had been made, it would have taken time. And that’s when I think we would have lost Conner. “

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Merriman said that when his office reviewed the reimbursement request, it was not the dollar amount that influenced their decision.

“It was about making sure we were following the proper process to do that surgery in Canada.”

Merriman added that there are “provisions in our legislation” that dictate that care must be completed in Canada as “the first option” if the option exists within the country, and internal staff at the Ministry of Health suggested that it determine that there is a Canadian option.

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“From what I understand about this, it was two conflicting opinions, not very conflicting, but two differences of opinion from doctors on this about whether they could go to another jurisdiction to get that,” he said.

“But again, I am happy to sit down with this person with this family so I can discuss if there are any updates. What has happened since I met with them in April is that there has been correspondence back and forth to my office. “

Merriman said his information on the matter came from a “clinical advisory group.”

“They are the experts in this on whether it can be done in our province, in our country or outside the country, they are the ones who advised that there is an opportunity outside the province to make this happen, a very rare surgery,” he said, although did not specify exactly where.


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