No payment required for necessary medical care

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The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance issued a reminder Sept. 9 that no payment is required for medically necessary services.

Patients without insurance can receive care at the Chatham and Wallaceburg hospitals.

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“We don’t want anyone sitting at home concerned about their ability to pay not seeking out health care,” hospital group president and chief executive officer Lori Marshall said during a conference call with local media.

Uninsured people, such as travellers from the United States, received bills for medical care before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Ontario Ministry of Health issued a directive in March that all services deemed necessary by medical staff are free in Ontario hospitals, said a health alliance statement.

“It was deemed necessary to not turn away any individuals seeking urgent medical care during a critical time period amid a pandemic,” said the statement.

“This clarification is an important one to ensure uninsured individuals, including those who have travelled to Canada for work in the agri-food sector and require medical attention, are assured they will receive any necessary medical care without being charged.”

Someone who was mistakenly charged for a medical service should contact the hospital’s billing department.

Visitor restrictions

The pandemic has likely changed forever the way hospital visits are done locally, Marshall said.

“General visiting, where your neighbour might come by, visit a few people at a time – just to pop in and say hello – I’m not sure that we will ever go back to that level of visiting,” she said.

Visitor restrictions are in place during the pandemic.

The only patients allowed one essential visitor are those who are actively dying, require a support person or advocate because of cognitive or mobility difficulties, are 18 years old or younger, or are in labour or post-partum.

However, the health alliance is expanding its care partner program to more hospital units. A care partner is someone offering emotional and/or physical support to a patient with whom they have a close relationship.

A patient can now have only one care partner, but Marshall expects that number to grow.

“I would anticipate that our next step after we’re able to roll out one (care partner) across the organization is we would go to two and then ultimately, if we were not in a pandemic, what we might have is multiple care partners for individuals,” she said.