A Manitoba, Canada mother of three will no longer have to answer calls from collection agencies or worry about paying thousands of dollars in medical bills, after her private insurer agreed to retroactively cover the costs — following her decision to go public with her story.

Ololade Fashina, 29, owed almost $35,000 after giving birth to her son during a short window where her student medical insurance had lapsed and her work permit hadn’t arrived.

The situation left the former international student feeling desperate, helpless and worried about how she could ever pay off this debt.

“I don’t make this money in a year,” she said last week, before learning her insurer would cover the costs.

That bill, she said, would “affect my three kids.… They won’t have the good life I want to give them.”

Fashina’s ordeal began after she went to a clinic in January 2021, when she was 29 weeks pregnant with her third child.

Doctors noticed her placenta was no longer producing nutrients — a huge risk to the baby. Fashina was told she would have to be admitted and if she left, her baby could die in utero.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for the young mother from Nigeria. She had graduated from the University of Manitoba in October 2020 and applied for a work permit.

Processing of those permits was delayed at the time, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her student medical insurance had been extended to cover her until the end of 2020, but after that, she would be without coverage until the permit arrived.

Fashina says she knew she didn’t have insurance coverage when she went to hospital in January 2021.

But “[the doctor] said, ‘The baby is not OK.'”

She wound up staying eight days at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg before giving birth to a baby boy, Ayodeji, who was delivered prematurely on Jan. 15.

Fashina’s work permit arrived five days later. But within a few months, the bills started coming.

She owed more than $33,000 for her stay at St. Boniface Hospital, plus over $1,000 for her initial consultation with the Winnipeg Clinic and for individual doctors who attended to her during the birth.

Fashina, who had come to Canada in 2015 to study criminology at the University of Manitoba, had no family here to support her and couldn’t fathom how she could pay the bill while supporting her three children.

And then the collection agency calls started coming.

She began to get daily calls telling her she needed to start paying $900 per month. One collections agent told her that she should use her Canada child benefit cheques to cover the bill.

She reached out after running out of options, which included consulting with a lawyer, she said.

Several inquiries were to the federal and provincial governments, and to Manitoba Blue Cross, which provides health coverage for international students.

In a statement emailed, the insurer said it would cover the costs retroactively. “This is an extremely unique situation and Manitoba Blue Cross greatly sympathizes with Ms. Fashina,” wrote David Tompkins, director of sales at Manitoba Blue Cross.

The news was a huge relief for Fashina, who said a representative called her and told her to forward all her bills. “I was so worried about it,” she said after receiving the phone call. “This is the best day ever.”

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government cut universal health care for international post-secondary students in 2018 to save an estimated $3.1 million. International students now pay a fee for coverage through the Manitoba International Student Health Plan.

Source: [url]https://www.facebook.com/AfrotimesNewspaper/photos/a.119381757440035/128462823198595/ [/url]
[url]Afrotimes newspaper[/url]

Do they want to say no before?

The insurance company must pay o.
Lol

For those who want to study in Manitoba -- the province does not provide health insurance for international students. Know this and know peace!

Wahala

Jesu
See bill