Fraser Health $25 wheelchair fee only offered to current long-term care residents: MLA

Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington says sources from Fraser Health have told her that the $25 monthly wheelchair user fee will only be offered to current long-term care residents.

Last month Fraser Health issued a letter to residents at Mountain View Manor, saying starting September, wheelchair-bound residents will have to pay a fee to borrow a wheelchair.

Now Huntington says “come September 1, unless a new resident can show financial hardship to Fraser Health’s satisfaction, all new residents have to buy or rent their wheelchair from a private vendor.”

But that is not the case says Fraser Health.

Spokesperson Tasleem Juma says any resident, existing or new, will have three options when it comes to obtaining a wheelchair. They can purchase one, rent one from a third party, or borrow one from the health authority. If they borrow one, then they will have to pay $25 a month.

“That fee is only being administered when you are borrowing from the authority,” says Juma.

Huntington calls the whole thing ‘outrageous.’

“It can cost $4,000 and more to purchase a wheelchair, and the rental could be upwards of $1,200 a year,” she says in a statement. “After September 1, half of a resident’s comfort fund could be consumed by the wheelchair rental alone, leaving a disposable income of only $100 for every personal need, including clothes, haircuts, foot care, many drugs and toiletries.”

“I respect that our government was elected on a commitment to balanced budgets.  But they have no political or moral mandate to balance our budget on the backs of the elderly and infirm,” adds Huntington.

Huntington says Fraser Health advised her that the initial $25 per-month was to cover the cost of maintaining the chairs of current residents. However, funds would not be returned to the patient if maintenance was not required:  the fee goes into general revenue and is not linked to a patient’s account.

Juma confirms this saying wheelchairs generally only have a lifespan of three to five years, and if a wheelchair is transferred to another person, then it has to undergo extensive cleaning and some replacement of parts such as cushions. So they keep the fee to cover the cost of new chairs and maintenance.

“Instead of increasing the salary cap for the Premier’s Chief of Staff, Cabinet could have cancelled the wheelchair user fees for the people who actually built this province,” says Huntington. “As it stands, that $35,000 would cover the $25 user fee for over 116 seniors – or for 30 patients who need extended care after September 1.  Something is sadly wrong with government’s priorities.”