Province expanding northern health travel grant program

THUNDER BAY – The province is expanding the Northern Ontario Health Travel Grant program to cover more costs incurred by patients needing eligible out-of-town care.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones on Tuesday revealed details of the revamped plan at a stop at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, announcing they have increased the overnight accommodation allowance from $100 a night to $175, and from $550 to $1,050 for stays of eight nights or longer.

The government also reduced the travel distance requirements from 200 kilometres round trip to 100 kilometres and have expanded the eligibility to cover costs of medical travel companions accompanying a patient requiring hospitalization.

The province plans to provide $45 million over three years to fund the program.

Jones said the goal is to provide Northern Ontarians with a better health-care experience, acknowledging residents often don’t have access to a full suite of medical services in their home communities, especially in sparsely populated regions in the Northwest.

That shouldn’t mean accessing health care needs to be a financial burden, the minister said, calling it another step toward connecting people in the region to the specialized health care they need.

“These programs provide financial reimbursement that helps cover the medical related costs Northern Ontario residents have incurred while travelling to access OHIP-insured health-care services that are not available within a 100-kilometre radius of where they live,” Jones said.

“The province will begin implementing expansions and needed improvements to the Northern Health Travel Grant program starting this fall.”

The changes will also include a more convenient, online application form, that includes digital receipt submission capabilities, allowing for faster reimbursements and eliminates the need for a signature from a referring physician or health-care provider.

The expansion also adds more health-care partners to the program, as well as community labs, to help more people get reimbursed for their costs.

“(We’ve also) removed the 100-kilometre deductible so people can get reimbursed for every kilometre travelled, to offset higher gas prices. These changes are also increasing reimbursements for overnight trips, to better reflect people’s needs and increased costs,” Jones said.

Paul Carr, a patient advocate at Thunder Bay Regional, said he welcomes the new changes, noting the care needed, including cardiac surgery, isn't always available close to home.

“Sometimes (patients) face many barriers in terms of accessing care. When you have to travel long distances to attend appointments or receive specialized care or surgeries, it would be great if patients could access the same level of care and services throughout the province, but we know that’s not the case right now,” Carr said.

“Some of our patients have to travel for excess care and this can be a daunting experience. For some it might be the first time they’ve ever travelled to an urban centre.”

Every little bit helps, Carr said.

NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois applauded the changes, calling the move good news for Northern Ontarians, in particular the removal of the 100-kilometre deductible for the gas repayment. However, Vaugeois said the province could have gone further and increased the mileage rate from the current 41 cents a kilometre.

“I think we get roughly 61 cents a kilometre as MPPs,” Vaugeois said. “It’s miles from where it needs to be to cover the cost.”

She added the hotel accommodation rate falls a bit short of the actual cost of rooms, especially in centres like Toronto.

The spending was previously announced in the 2024 Ontario budget.