Saskatchewan Blue Cross has reversed its decision to deny the travel insurance claim of Louis Lamothe’s family, who faced paying thousands of dollars in medical bills after he suffered a stroke while vacationing in Arizona.
His medical flight home cost $56,000, and his family was also facing hospital fees amounting to “more than half a million Canadian dollars.” After Saskatchewan Blue Cross declined to grant an interview, it issued a statement confirming that the situation had been resolved through the standard claim management process.
The insurance company’s letter to the family said that after reviewing the claim, it had accepted “the expenses related to the emergency medical services” from Feb. 3 to Feb. 26, 2023, as well as Lamothe’s hospital bills in Yuma and Phoenix.
The insurer will also cover extra expenses amounting to close to $10,000 and transport Lamothe’s truck from Yuma to his home in Saskatchewan. The family had started a petition to reverse the decision, and Fee suspects that national media coverage contributed to the sudden reversal, which the insurance company declined to confirm.
Fee said the claim should never have been denied in the first place. Saskatchewan Blue Cross had argued that it was because Lamothe failed to disclose a change in the dosage of cholesterol medication he had been taking.
Lamothe had been on a 10-milligram pill, which increased to 20 milligrams in July, three months before he left for the U.S. Because Blue Cross had not been informed of the dosage increase, the family said the insurer declined to insure Lamothe for his hospital stay or flight home.
The family is grateful for the support they received from family, friends, strangers, and donors to their GoFundMe page, and the fundraiser in Estevan, Saskatchewan, will continue to help Lamothe’s wife.
Now that the issue has been resolved, the family wants to focus all their energy on Lamothe’s recovery. Although he is in stable condition, he still relies on a feeding tube, and his recovery and rehabilitation will be a long road.
Fee advises others to read the fine print before purchasing travel insurance and to triple-check medication and health records before traveling.
»Saskatchewan Blue Cross reverses decision to deny travel insurance claim of Louis Lamothe’s family«
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