Moving to N.L. from another province? You might not get health care

Charlotte Morton might have been raised on another coast, but shemarrieda Newfoundlander, works in St. John'sand rents a house in Airport Heights.

She has no plans to move;Newfoundland is home for Morton in every sense of the word.

Except, that is, for one: Medical Care Plan policy won't consider Morton a resident, she says, leaving her struggling to access basic care.

"I work here, I pay taxes here, my children go to school here," Morton told CBCNews. "I couldn't be more entrenched into the local community in terms of where my social network is, but because I was living in B.C. before I came here, I'm not considered a resident."

Under the Canada Health Act, "home" provinces must cover a Canadian resident who settles elsewhere in the country for three months.

I work here, I pay taxes here, my children go to school here.- CharlotteMorton

After that, it's up to the new province in this case, Newfoundland and Labrador to take over andstart shelling out for services.

But MCPtold Morton she's ineligible for coverageas long as she attendsschool, despite Morton making it clearthat she doesnot intend to return to British Columbia after her studies.

Morton, an instructor andPhD student at Memorial University, said she has requested coverage four times since 2012but was refused on each occasion, leavingher on the hook for specialist bills until B.C. reimburses her.

She can't afford that, she said. Instead, she's stuck waiting for B.C. to approve those expenses, including surgical gallstone removal.

But B.C. hasn't yet agreed to cover the procedure in Newfoundland, meaning Morton would need to spend time and money to travel across the country.

So for now, she waits, hoping her conditiondoesn't cause sepsis andstill fighting to have the extractionperformed in Newfoundland without facing hefty up-front costs.

The bureaucratic tangle has left Morton neglecting her health.

"I've put off dealing with things," she said.

Regulatory hole

Under the province'sMedical Care and Hospital Insurance Act, a "resident" of a province is someone who simply "makes his or her home" in Newfoundland and Labrador. Butit doesn't include students or their dependents, as long as they're covered by their home province.

AnMCPofficial toldCBCNews that aspolicy,the provincedoes not accept any application that references studying in Newfoundland.

Yet some provinces, includingBritish Columbia, won't cover students who leave and don't intend to return after graduation.

The resulting regulatory gap left AngelicaLauzon and her partner, Stewart Walker, without any coverage at all earlier this month.

Lauzon saidshe made all the necessary calls to each health authority before moving to St. John's from Victoriain September.But when she tried to submit her MCPapplication, she was told that because her partner was in school, she wouldn't be eligible either.

Lauzon explained they had moved to Newfoundland for good and asked to fill out the form again. At that point, she wastold they would be charged with fraud if they attempted to reapply while Walker remained a student.

Their home province, also B.C., issued a letter to the couple stating they wouldn't be protected by B.C. insurance since they did not intend to return.

Theirthree-month grace period of B.C. coverage ended Nov. 30, sotheywere left without coverage for five days before B.C. relented and offered to reinstate their insurance.

AB.C. officialtoldLauzon over the phonethey would have to"bend the rules" to cover them, a statement that made her uneasy, she said.

I just want that comfort of being able to call up a family doctor and make an appointment.- Angelica Lauzon

When she tried MCPagain, anofficial toldLauzonthat Canadians are sometimes left without coverage due to clashing rules between provinces. The official said MCPhad dealt withthree similar cases in a week, two of them from Ontario.

Health Canada confirmed in a statement there are sometimes disputes between provinces that, in "rare" instances, lead to Canadians falling through the cracks. In those cases, the health authority would step in and mediate the disagreement, the agency said.

Although it didn't get to that point for Lauzon and Walker, the ordeal has left her anxious and frustrated and "kind of paying double," she says, for medical services in B.C.while her taxes go to N.L.

"I'm speechless, really," Lauzon said."I just want that comfort of being able to call up a family doctor and make an appointment."

'That's crazy,' says health minister

Minister of Health and Community Services John Haggiesaid he wasn't aware of Newfoundland and Labrador residents being denied health coverage and there had been no direction from his department to restrict eligibility.

"In actual fact, we've been looking at opening up eligibility requirements for people coming in from outside as part of our immigration andeconomic stimulus approach, so that we can encourage people to come here," Haggie said.

"If you've got a Canadian citizen who wants to move to Newfoundland and Labrador and can't get coverage, that's crazy. We're open for business."

Haggieencouraged anyone falling through the cracks to call his office.

The health department saidit does not track rejected MCP applications.

Pressure to leave

Thanks to the "portability clause" in the Canada Health Actthat allows Canadians to obtain insured services between provinces,an out-of-province health card should grant someone access to medically necessaryhealth services in N.L.

But Morton, meanwhile, said that's not her experience;she knows first-hand the system doesn't work as smoothly as it's supposed to. Until her gallstones cause a medical emergency, she's left without any viable means of having them removed.

For Morton, the way MCP handles students seems outdated, a relic of a time when people moved to another province for school and returned home to family. And as long as it remains in place, she said, students might think twice about sticking around.

"By maintaining these sort of policies, we give people the impression they're expected to just be temporary," Morton said.

"I don't think it's unusual, or something we should be discouraging, that once people start school they decide to stay here. Ultimately, if I have to look after myself, they're putting undue pressure on me to leave."

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