Transportation cost recovery:  A factor in accessing health services

Imagine enduring a grueling twelve-hour journey including a ferry ride to visit a rheumatologist. This was the situation endured by Adam Critch, a young Newfoundlander with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) to obtain medical care inHalifax, Nova Scotia. His story, highlighted in The Western Star , tells of the difficulties in accessing arthritis care and the impact of JIA on Adam and his family.

Unfortunately, this is the stark reality faced by many Canadians who live in many different parts of Canada. Although it is particularly problematic for people who live in rural and remote areas, access to care can be difficult for many. At the worst point in my disease, I had to take the weekly hour and half-long trip from my hometown of Cornwall, Ontario, to Ottawa to see my pediatric rheumatologist. Cornwall was not home to any rheumatologist let alone one who specialized in caring for children and youth with arthritis.

The good news is that there is some help from government to reimburse the transportation costs for people who need to travel to seek medical care. For example, the province of Ontario has established the Northern Health Travel Grant Program for patients in Northern Ontario who travel more than 100 km for specialist medical care. First Nations, Inuit and Aboriginal arthritis patients can seek some reimbursement of transportation costs through Health Canada’s Non-Insured Health Benefits: Medical Transportation Policy Framework. A list of additional resources in other provinces is available below.

Though these government programs are not complete nor without their issues, some help is available for Canadians to seek medical treatment for their arthritis. Please let me know if this is a major concern for you or someone in your family I am interested in your experience and will help if I can.

• Newfoundland and Labrador - Medical Transportation Assistance Program
• British Columbia – Transportation Assistance Program
• Northwest Territories – Medical Travel Plan
• Manitoba - Northern Patient Transportation Program
• Yukon - Travel for Medical Treatment Program
• Atlantic Canada – Fuel the Care Program
• Findings of a Review of the Northern Health Travel Grant Program and Cancer Care Ontario Radiation Re-Referral Policy – Western Canada results
• Findings of a Review of the Northern Health Travel Grant Program and Cancer Care Ontario Radiation Re-Referral Policy – Eastern Canada results