{"id":100332,"date":"2017-04-29T05:23:42","date_gmt":"2017-04-29T09:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=100332"},"modified":"2017-04-29T05:23:42","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T09:23:42","slug":"b-c-responds-to-lawsuit-over-fees-to-welfare-recipients-for-methadone-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/29\/b-c-responds-to-lawsuit-over-fees-to-welfare-recipients-for-methadone-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. responds to lawsuit over fees to welfare recipients for methadone treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The British Columbia government says it has done nothing wrong by redirecting money from the income-assistance cheques of recovering heroin addicts to pay private methadone-dispensing clinics for treatment. (Photo: Richard Eriksson\/Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2014 The British Columbia government says it has done nothing wrong by redirecting money from the income-assistance cheques of recovering heroin addicts to pay private methadone-dispensing clinics for treatment.<\/p>\n

In documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court last month, the provincial government says private clinics can charge extra for counselling services not provided by a doctor, and that such fees can be paid for out of a beneficiary’s monthly income or disability allowance.<\/p>\n

Laura Shaver is in the methadone maintenance program and sued the province in November 2015 in what could become a class-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Shaver’s notice of claim says she was forced to sign a government-drafted agreement at Yale Medical Centre in downtown Vancouver because she need treatment for a heroin addiction and there was no room at a public facility.<\/p>\n

The fee agreement is $60, which is reduced by about $42 through a government-provided supplement, leaving the remaining $18 to be drawn from her monthly support allowance.<\/p>\n

The government’s response to civil claim says it did not force Shaver to attend the private clinic, which the province says operates separately from government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 The British Columbia government says it has done nothing wrong by redirecting money from the income-assistance cheques of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":98196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16],"tags":[16851,18481],"class_list":["post-100332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-british-columbia-government","tag-methadone-treatment","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}