A pregnant mother of two said her family has been unfairly denied medical coverage after Quebec’s healthcare board erroneously said they were not residents of the province.
Sandra Tomb Hoyek tried to renew her medicare card in November. When the board asked for proof of residence, she sent a copy of the deed for her condo and utility bills but didn’t hear back for weeks.
“I called three times,” she said. “’Is it OK? Did you receive my bills? Do you have everything you need?’ They just said ‘Just wait for the letter.’”
Eventually, four letters did some in the mail – one each for Hoyek, her husband and their two toddlers. They stated that none of them were eligible for coverage due to insufficient proof of residence.
Hoyek said she did spent more than six months outside Quebec in 2012 as she planned her wedding in Lebanon, a trip she had informed the board of. Her card was renewed in 2013. Since then, the family has hardly travelled outside the province.
“That’s why when they take that away from me, inside, it drives me crazy,” she said. “’They put me in a box, she’s Lebanese, she left once, I bet she’s doing it again.’ I think what happened is, they assumed instead of finding out ‘Is she actually here or not?’”
Lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard said the board needs to be tough to avoid fraud, but that can lead to oversights like Hoyek and her family experienced.
“Sometimes we see the Regie is asking for too much information or seems to be unable to assess the merit of the information that has been given to them,” he said.
In the end, Hoyek submitted roughly 400 pages of documentation to prove the family does reside in Quebec. She said she spent three weeks of her pregnancy without healthcare coverage before the family finally received a call this week informing them their cards had been reactivated.
Despite the resolution, Hoyek said she would like an explanation.
“I’m sure they have protocols but break those protocols,” she said. “Be human.”
