B.C. to reimburse methadone patients for taking clinic fees off welfare cheques
VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government has agreed to pay back more than $5.5 million in fees deducted from the monthly social assistance cheques of methadone patients, a document filed in B.C. Supreme Court says.
Details of the agreement were submitted late last week by Laura Shaver and outline how the government will reimburse 70 per cent of the $7.7 million, plus interest, collected from 11,719 patients.
The settlement is subject to court approval and will go before a judge on Dec. 1.
Shaver was the plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit launched two years ago aimed at preventing private methadone dispensing clinics from receiving $18.34 a month that the government allowed to be skimmed off clients’ income assistance or disability payments.