Exclusive: No more medical bills for Robin Milne, province pays final half of $118K US health bill

WINNIPEG — It’s a day Robin Milne has been waiting nearly eight months for.

“Just so happy. Finally the monkey is off my back.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Just so happy. Finally the monkey is off my back."

The province has now paid all of his hospital and medical bills after Milne was treated in a U.S. hospital last year.

RELATED: Province won’t pay Manitoba man’s $120K medical bill after heart attack

In October, Milne had a heart attack at his Manitoba home and was rushed to the nearest hospital in Roseau, Minn., part of a long-standing, but little-known agreement with the province known as the Altru Agreement.

However, he needed emergency surgery and a Life Flight air ambulance from Winnipeg wasn’t available. After a 90 minute delay his doctor made the life-saving decision to fly him to Grand Forks, N.D.

RAW: Robin Milne talks about province covering US health bills

2:22 Robin Milne talks about province covering US health bills

Through a freedom of information request, Global News learned that Life Flight operations were “business as usual” on the day Milne had his heart attack and “there were no delays and/or issues to report”. Milne hasn’t been told what happened to cause the 90 minute wait.

At the time the Manitoba government refused to pay for the bill. Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the province did not have the authority to make these type of payments.

Milne ended up stuck with a hospital bill of more than more than $118,000.

RELATED: Health Minister ‘eager’ to speak with U.S. hospital over Manitoba man’s $118K medical bill

“Everyday I would get up hoping that we would hear positive news that the bills were being paid, so it was always on our minds,” Milne said. “The emotional highs and lows were very many.”

However, in March, Goertzen said the province would cover Milne’s medical costs.

“I can advise… there are no outstanding hospital and medical bills for Mr. Milne,”Goertzen said at the time in the Manitoba Legislature.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I can advise… there are no outstanding hospital and medical bills for Mr. Milne,"Goertzen said at the time in the Manitoba Legislature.

But at that time, the cost of the Valley Med air ambulance to Grand Forks had not been paid.

Milne received a message Wednesday morning which said the last outstanding portion of the bill, which was slightly reduced to $34,139.86 US (or nearly $48,000 CDN), had been paid in full.

“This morning I woke up and my wife said there was a voicemail on the phone. I picked it up and listened to it and it was Deborah Slobogian-Jones, she is the out of province coordinator for billing for Manitoba Health, she indicated that they had paid the Valley Med flight bill, as well as the Grand Forks hospital bill.”

“It’s a huge relief, it really is. To know that we can continue planning for our future I’m 60 years old now and we are looking forward to retirement and just not having to worry about that anymore and it was a worry, believe me. It really was a huge worry.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a huge relief, it really is. To know that we can continue planning for our future I'm 60 years old now and we are looking forward to retirement and just not having to worry about that anymore and it was a worry, believe me. It really was a huge worry."

Throughout the ordeal a GoFundMe page was set up to help with the costs and it eventually reached $10,000. Milne is now working with GoFundMe to repay the money.