ESPANOLA—Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha held a press conference in Espanola this Monday, February 12 highlighting his Private Member’s Bill aimed at improving the Northern Health Travel Grant (NHTG) through the establishment of a review committee headed up by the Minister of Health. The issue is an important one for those living in the North, emphasized the MPP during a conversation with The Expositor.
“Northerners rely on the NHTG to make sure that no one is denied the care they need because of the costs.” said Mr. Mantha. “My office is constantly hearing from constituents who are waiting weeks, if not months, to get a meager reimbursement that barely covers a portion of the costs of travel and accommodation.”
Mr. Mantha’s bill would enact a Northern Health Travel Grant Advisory Committee, which would require the Minister of Health to establish an advisory committee with the mandate to make recommendations for improving the facilitation of reasonable access to health services for people in Northern Ontario. The Bill would do this by means of “reasonable, realistic and efficient reimbursement for travel costs.”
To establish its mission, the committee would be required to consult with all relevant stakeholders, “including, at minimum, the stakeholders specified in the Bill,” said the MPP. The committee would be required to report its recommendations to the minister. The minister, in turn, would be required to inform the Assembly of the recommendations that the minister will implement.
To that end, Mr. Mantha’s Bill would set up a committee “composed of persons that the minister believes will make useful contributions to the committee’s work, including, recipients of NHTGs; and health care providers working in Northern Ontario.
The Bill goes on to assert that the health minister “shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the composition of the committee reflects the diversity of the residents of Northern Ontario and, in particular, includes women, Indigenous people, members of racialized groups, persons with disabilities, seniors and persons of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.”
Over the 12 years Mr. Mantha has been Algoma-Manitoulin’s MPP, he has personally tried to make up some of the difference between the actual cost of travel for medical necessity of his constituents by providing accommodation at his Toronto-based apartment.
“In fact, there is a family coming to stay at my apartment for three days as they have an appointment at Sick Kids,” he said.
One of the key changes Mr. Mantha would like to see in the NHTG is a sliding scale on the distance needed to qualify. He points out that people living in Espanola who must travel to Sudbury for medical procedures would not qualify under the current guidelines. “They are right on the cusp,” he said. “The same goes for residents of White River who must travel to Wawa for appointments.”
The costs of travel, particularly in these inflationary times, far outweigh the small amount of reimbursement coming from the NHTG, notes Mr. Mantha. “Those who don’t have their own transportation are even further burdened,” he said.
Mr. Mantha’s Bill is up for debate in the legislature this coming Thursday, February 15, and he said that he hopes to find broad, non-partisan support for his solution to the shortcomings of the NHTG system. The NHTG is clearly falling short, he said. “It’s time we start working on getting it fixed.”
