A trip home from the hospital added up for this wheelchair-bound senior

A 20-minute ride from the hospital emergency department back to her home ended up costing 85-year-old Shirley Parent about $144. 

For the London senior, who's completely wheelchair-bound and relies on the old age security benefit and her pension as her only sources of income, that's a significant expense. Parent was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1997 and has been in a wheelchair since 2001. She lives in co-op housing and her income is $1,200 per month, she said.

Complications from an infection required Parent to take an ambulance to the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) twice in early December.

The first visit was to University Hospital, which is about 12 minutes away from her house in northeast London. Then a second trip to Victoria Hospital on Dec. 5, about 20 minutes away. Both times, she was discharged between the hours of 2 and 4 a.m.

Parent couldn't bring her wheelchair into the ambulance due to space issues, and had no ride back home in those early morning hours. A wheelchair taxi was not available during that time, she said. 

Parent said the only option left was Voyago-Voyageur Paratransit Service, which has a gurney that helps her sit upright or lay down in the absence of her wheelchair. Although she wasn't sure of the exact cost, Parent said she knew it would be expensive.

"They usually charge you quite a bit of money and I'm a senior so I don't have that kind of money," she said. 

Parent explained her situation to a doctor at University Hospital who told her the hospital will take care of her bill. 

When Parent went to Victoria Hospital two weeks later, she said she got a completely different response and was told the hospital can't absorb her bill. Without another choice, she took Voyageur home again. 

But on Jan. 27, Parent was stunned when she got an invoice from LHSC for Voyageur's Dec. 5 service, that charged her $142.53 plus a $1.50 service fee for paying with a credit card, she said.

"My bill came up to $144 just for a few minutes ride. I'm not well off and don't have a lot of money coming in besides my government pension," Parent said, adding that she also paid two ambulance bills costing $45 each.

When she contacted Voyago, Parent said she was told the company has a fixed rate for home transportation, regardless of distance. Voyago did not respond to CBC's request for comment.

"I could be living just around the corner from the hospital or in another part of Middlesex County and it would still be the same amount," she said. "I just thought, 'That's terrible for seniors or people with disabilities dealing with a medical situation and that's what you charge them?'"

Parent said she paid the bill since she didn't want the hassle, but felt she was being penalized for her disability.

A spokesperson for LHSC told CBC News in an email that they have a contract with Voyago and a secondary non-emergency transportation service, E1 Health, where they receive negotiated pricing for trips between hospitals and a few of their specialized programs to support moving patients to bed within the community or home. 

"In these circumstances, transportation is funded and the patient would not be billed," the statement said. "All other transportation costs – such as to hospital from home for appointments, dialysis or ED visits and/or from hospital to home – are costed to the patient."

'Not just a hit to the bank account': advocate

While it's not uncommon for services to have flat rates for patient transfers, people are forced to pay the amount that few providers are willing to charge for it, according to Jeff Preston, an associate professor of disability studies at King's University College. 

"There's a large portion of our health care experience that's not public and gets downloaded onto either insurance claims or the individual themselves," he said.

"When you factor the cost of living, which has gone way up, this type of stuff becomes not just an inconvenience or a hit to the bank account, but can put people into some really awful financial situations."

Preston has been advocating for improvements to London's transit system for many years.

"Health care doesn't just happen in a hospital building, we have to get people to and from the hospital and ensure people aren't being disadvantaged simply because their needs are different from the majority," he said.