Yves Bolduc will repay RAMQ $27K

Quebec's Education Minister, Yves Bolduc, says he will repay $27,072 to the province's health insurance boardand donate $28,000 forpremiums he received for taking on new patients that he then subsequently abandoned after he again became a minister.

Nineteen months elapsed between the end of Bolduc'sterm as health minister and the beginning of his term as education minister. During that time, hesat as a member of the Opposition, and as a general practitioner, receiving$215,000 fortakingon 1,500 new patients.

• Yves Bolduc's $215K bonus unethical, say ex-health ministers

Today theRgie de l'assurance maladie du Qubec (RAMQ) released a statement claimingBolduc collected premiumsforpatients he has not followed up with at least once in a12-month period, as is required ofall family physicians.

RAMQ said that between April 23, 2013 and April 23, 2014, Bolduc enrolled about 400 new patients, for which he received an amount of $54,145.

In a statement, the minister said he was"sorry about thedebate that wasraised" by the incident.

"I am very unhappy that this has become acontroversy, when my only goal was to serve my patients while being a devoted MNA," said Bolduc.

Bolduc said he will donate $28,000 to two charities: FondationCap DiamantandtheL'Association des Grands Brls F.L.A.M.

• Yves Bolduc will repay some patient premiums to RAMQ

Former Quebec health minister Claude Castonguay who helped bring Medicare to Quebec under the JeanLesage governmenttold CBC News that Bolduc should both resign from the legislature and reimburse the $215,000.

Bolduc's patient load entitled him to a premium of between $100 and $200 a person, thanks to an incentive programmeant to encourage doctors who already work in hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms to take on patients seeking family doctors.

PremierPhilippe Couillard saidthat becauseof the controversy, it will benecessary to revise the criteria for the bonus program.