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Saskatchewan man says ambulance ride too costly to take

Saskatchewan’s Thomas Winacott, who has cancer, says he declined an ambulance ride over the cost. File / Global News

SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan man with pancreatic cancer says he declined an ambulance transfer two weeks ago because he still owed money for a previous ride. Thomas Winacott, 64, said he needed to get from Maidstone to the Battleford Union Hospital, but caught a ride with a family member.

The Lashburn man says he was still waiting for a $1,500 bill from an earlier ambulance ride from Swift Current to Saskatoon’s St. Paul Hospital.

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The Opposition NDP raised his story while once again calling on the Saskatchewan government to change its ambulance fee structure and provide transfers for free.

READ MORE: Costly ambulance rides a ‘hardship’ for Sask. families

The New Democrats said in a release that the province has the highest ambulance fees in the country and charges per-kilometre rates without limits.

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Health critic Danielle Chartier says the cost of transfers could be covered with money the government is using to pay a U.S. law firm to push for the Keystone pipeline in Washington, D.C.

“Of the approximate $4 million that it would cost for inter-hospital transfers, it’s the same price that taxpayers are paying for this premier’s American lobbyist,” Chartier said.

Winacott said he “just about flipped” when he got his bill for $1553.20.

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