Manitoba woman says she's in 'dire' situation as year-long wait for new health card drags on

A Manitoba woman who applied for a new health card after moving back to the provincejust over a year ago says she doesn't have the time or money to keep waiting.

Marjorie Wiebe, 42,applied for a Manitoba health card in December 2022after moving back to her home province from Alberta two months earlier.

She's still waiting for it to arrive, she said.

Wiebe, who now lives in Pinawa a small town about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg says when she applied over a year ago,she was toldthere would be a four- to six-week wait for her health card. She phonedfor answers after that time had passed.

"I was basically told that there are a lot of people [waiting] right now, and that I just need to wait," she told CBC News Wednesday.

AManitoba Health card is what confirms a resident'seligibility for health benefits something that's important to Wiebe.

She knew before moving back to Manitoba that her gallbladder would eventually need to be removed,asit over-produces bile.

But her medical condition "wasn't as dire as it is now," she said, as she now has anextremely swollen gallbladder.

"The pain doesn't go away. I still have to get up and work," she said.

"I'm in a position where this could be potentially life-threatening, so I do feel like there should be resources for people like that."

There were 9,180 people waiting for their health card applications to be processed as of Jan. 19, a provincial spokesperson told CBC News in anemailed statement Wednesday a 62 per cent drop from the waitlist ofnearly 25,000last November.

"The department has made great efforts to reduce the processing times for health cards and continues to work as quickly as possible to reduce the backlog," the spokesperson said.

Once received, health coverage will be backdated to an applicant's date of arrival in Manitoba or the date of their eligible legal status in the country, according to the spokesperson.

Under the federal Canada Health Act, thewaiting periodto getinsured health services for people who move from one province to anothercannot be more than three months.

Manitoba Health's website says it is"committed to meeting or surpassing" its standard for processing, which isfour weeks for health cards. However,it is currently processing applications from last August, according to its website.

The department's spokesperson didn't give a reason for the current backlog.

Last March, the province said it had eliminated abacklog inprocessing times fornew or replacement health cards created bythe COVID-19 pandemic.

However, in a statement to CBC News last month,a provincial spokesperson said Manitoba Health was experiencing service delays due to increased demand for services from thousands of requests from people arriving from Ukraine and other parts of the world.

Province 'will get folks health cards': Kinew

On Wednesday, Premier Wab Kinew said his government "will get folks health cards."

"That is the plan. We're going to staff up the department of health to ensure health cards get delivered more quickly," he said during an unrelated news conference in Dauphin.

"We will be modernizing the health card in the coming years, but the first commitment is to ensure that you can get a health card when you need it."

Last month, Kinew saidhe would like to do away with paper medical records in favour of digital documentation that health-care practitioners and patients can access with a swipe of a phone or click of a mouse, but offered no timeline for when that change wouldbe made.

Wiebe has been in touch with Kinew's office, as well as the office of Manitoba's interim Progressive Conservative leader, Wayne Ewasko.Both promised to help her, but she says thatis also taking time she does not have.

She paid out of pocket to see a doctor lastyear, but says she constantlyworriesabout her gallbladder bursting, since she would likely need to be medevacedfrom her small town for emergencysurgery.

"I can't pay for that. Then I'd have to have surgery, and I can't pay for that," she said.

"I don't have any benefits. I don't have any way to access care other than to pay for it myself."

Wiebeis also no longer covered under Alberta Health Services, which covered one of her doctor's appointments last year.

She said she asked Manitoba Health if it's possible to use thenine-digit personal health identification numberfrom her previous Manitoba Health card, or if she could be issued a temporary one.

"They said noand that I have to wait I know what the number is, but I can't use it. It doesn't work."

The situation is frustrating and has left herreluctant to seek medical care, she said.

"I pay my taxes soI get health carebut I'm not getting health care."