‘How does that make sense’: Woman says Manitoba health card system not working

The health care card system in the province is broken, that’s according to at least one Manitoba resident who says she’s been waiting for more than a year for her health card. 

“I don’t think the system works very well at all — considering it’s been two years. I feel as though if you send out your application and there’s an error, that somebody would notify you and not just leave you guessing,” explained Kayla Poiron, who applied for a health card in June 2022 and had assumed the long wait was the result of the overall backlog.

After a CT scan left her with a bill worth more than $700 she told medical staff about her long wait, at which time she was advised to inquire, saying the delay — even against the backdrop of the backlog — was unusual. 

After hours on the phone, she found out the application had indeed been stalled as the result of a missing birth certificate, information that at no point was given to her.

“That would have been nice to know a few weeks after, or even a month after, but not two years,” said Poiron.

“How does that make sense in any world?”

Her application is one of tens of thousands being made to the province every single year, as CityNews has learned through Freedom of Information legislation that since 2020, more than 850,000 health card requests have come into Manitoba Health, Seniors, and Long-Term Care.

But how many of those requests are unfulfilled is information the province didn’t have.

CityNews also asked for the number of requests that remain unfilled, but the province says it does not track that figure on an “annual or monthly basis,” but confirmed some requests are delayed due to insufficient or incorrect information, with duplicate requests slowing the process further.

The province declined an interview request on the health card issues, but said in a statement  Manitoba Health, “Has made great efforts to reduce the processing times for health cards and the department continues to work as quickly as possible to reduce the backlog.” 

The province also said between Nov. 15 and Jan. 5, the backlog has been reduced by 60 per cent, but follow-up questions seeking a breakdown of what that means, whether or not someone would be notified if their application was incomplete, and where and how the health cards are produced were not received by broadcast deadline.

While Poiron now has her health card in her possession, she says something needs to change with the system 

“It definitely needs a revamp, I don’t know how people submit applications and they just get ignored.”