Beginning December 1, Ontario is expanding the Northern Health Travel Grant by increasing the amount of money health travellers will be given for overnight accommodations and by reducing the minimum distance of travel in order to qualify.
The province said this is a $45 million investment over the next three years to help people in Northern Ontario connect more easily to specialized health care and services that do not exist in many smaller communities.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones was pleased to make the announcement.
“Our government is continuing to take action to expand healthcare access in every corner of the province,” said Jones.
“The improvements to the Northern Health Travel Grant now in effect will reduce costs and simplify access, ensuring more people can easily and conveniently connect to the specialized care they need when they need it," she added.
The new changes that have come into effect include the following::
-Increasing the accommodation allowance from $100 to $175 per night, as well as increasing the total allowance for eight or more nights, from $550 to $1,150.
-Reducing the travel distance requirement to be eligible for overnight accommodation allowance from 200 kilometres to 100 kilometres.
-Expanding eligibility to include medical travel companions for accompanying a patient who is hospitalized.
-Eliminating the need for a signature from the referring health care provider, making the application process faster and easier.
-Removing the 100-kilometre deductible and reimbursing every kilometre travelled to help offset higher gas prices.
-Adding more eligible healthcare providers and more facility locations, such as community laboratories, to help more people get reimbursed for their incurred costs.
The Province will also be introducing a more convenient online application form in Spring 2025 that includes digital receipt submissions which will help families get their reimbursement faster.
The Northern Health Travel Grant provides eligible patients with financial assistance to help cover the related costs they can incur when travelling to access OHIP-insured health care services that are not available within a 100-kilometre radius of where they live, said the news release.
These include specialist visits and some diagnostic services that are not available in their local communities.
For example, this can help families access publicly funded services through the recently expanded Ontario Fertility Program which the government invested $150 million in funding to triple the number of families across the province with access to publicly funded fertility services.
