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Non-resident patients have stuck B.C. health authorities with $75 million in unpaid hospital and ambulance bills over the last five years, according to figures given to Postmedia News by the authorities.

On an annual basis, unpaid bills have varied, from a high of $16.6 million written off by health authorities in 2012-13, to a low of $13.3 million in 2011-12.

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The amount is dwarfed by the $334 million health authorities collected from non-resident patients, either through insurance or direct payments, but represents a cost taxpayers wind-up having to absorb. It’s an issue that has been on the radar of provincial health officials in the past.

In 2006, then-Health Minister George Abbott encouraged health authorities to find ways to collect for services delivered, because B.C. “is not in the habit of providing free health care for the rest of the world,” when the amount owed was around $10 million per year. More recently, a Ministry of Health official wasn’t made available to comment on the current numbers, citing rules preventing civil servants from speaking to the media during election periods.