Outaouais regional health authority CISSSO is reminding healthcare users in the Pontiac to renew their health cards in order to avoid paying out-of-pocket fees.
Pontiac Hospital’s head of ambulatory care Jasmine Paquette said the number of people who haven’t renewed their RAMQ cards has gone up in the past few years, with an average of 26 people a month who come to the emergency room in Shawville without a valid card.
“A lot of people since the pandemic haven’t been renewing their cards as often, so we do see more people that come in with invalid RAMQs, so it’s kind of an issue,” she said.
“Now the way of doing it is different [ . . . ] We do ask that people pay up front instead of receiving a bill afterwards.”
Users who show up to a healthcare facility without a valid card will be prompted to contact RAMQ. If the visit occurs during business hours, they will receive a temporary number so they don’t have to pay.
Outside regular business hours, users who show up to the hospital without a valid health card will be asked to pay up front and then submit a reimbursement form afterwards. The triage fee is $61.16, and then the consultation fee is $394.22.
“The next day you call and then you send your papers by mail, and you fill everything out. There’s a form that you can fill out, the RAMQ will reimburse them,” Paquette said.
Paquette said other regional health authorities have already been reminding users to renew their cards.
“It is being done in other places already. In Montreal, people are already being charged. So we’re just enforcing it.”
Users whose cards are set to expire should receive a notice in the mail, which contains a form they can fill out and return to the RAMQ. If the time frame has expired, users can have another form mailed to them, or visit their local CLSC.
The RAMQ website says a two-week delay is expected to treat and return the card, with an extended period of three weeks during high demand. To renew a card that has been expired for more than 6 months, an additional fee of $25 is to be expected on top of the cost of the photo.
Caroline Dupont, spokesperson for the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ), wrote in an email that all information on how to renew the card is available on their website.
“It is clearly stated on our website that if your health insurance card is expired, you will have to pay for the health services you received and request a reimbursement once your card is expired,” she wrote.
