Beauracrat Bullshit Could Have Ended Months Ago

Smitherman should have dealt with this months ago and it was a simple matter of getting him beauracts together and making a decision.

Ontario to pay $76,000 bill TheStar.com - News - Ontario to pay $76,000 bill
Bittersweet victory over bureaucracy: `I should never have had to deal with this'
January 31, 2007
Rob Ferguson
Queen's Park Bureau

She's fighting colon cancer but Suzanne Aucoin is elated after a rare personal apology from Ontario's health ministry, which admitted it was wrong in refusing to pay for her chemotherapy in Buffalo and is reimbursing her every penny.

A cheque for $76,018.23 was expected to arrive at her St. Catharines home today following an investigation by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin, who said the rules for seeking out-of-country treatment are so complex "it's like handing patients a Rubik's cube."

Marin persuaded bureaucrats to change their minds about Aucoin's case – and their policy for others in her situation, with clearer guidelines to be issued along with better explanations when requests for any form of out-of-country treatment are denied.

Aucoin said she's glad the victory will have an impact beyond her own case but it remains bittersweet after more than a year of appeals to bureaucrats and Ontario Health Insurance Plan review boards.

"I should never have had to deal with this, it takes all my energy to fight cancer," the 36-year-old teacher on medical leave told the Toronto Star last night before heading out for a celebratory dinner.

"It rights a wrong on some levels but you cannot put a price tag on my mental strain and stress."

Better late than never