Medical Travel
Baffin Medical Travel Office:
Toll Free Line 1-866-371-3305 (24hrs)
Kivalliq Region:
Toll Free Line: 1-844-886-8020 (24hrs)
Phone: 1-867-645-4336
Kitikmeot Region:
Toll Free Line: 1-844-886-8010 (24hrs)
Phone: 1-867-983-4506,or (867) 983-5196 after hours
The Department of Health offers medical travel benefits to make sure you have access to medical services that are not available in your home community.
If a doctor, nurse, dentist or other health care professional tells you that you have to leave your home community for medical treatment, you may be entitled to medical travel benefits.
Medical travel benefits help pay for medical services that are offered in communities other than your own.
Eligibility
Nunavummiut not eligible for assistance under any other source of funding can apply for medical travel assistance with the Government of Nunavut.
In order to be eligible for travel assistance from the Government of Nunavut, you must be enrolled in, or be eligible for, the Nunavut Health Care Plan and meet the following conditions:
- A health care professional in your home community must approve you for medical treatment outside your home community. This must be done before you travel.
- The medical treatment must be necessary and must be needed before you are travelling for other reasons.
- You must have used up all other third-party and employer insurance options or have no insurance plan.
- Medical travel will only be approved for travel that originates in Nunavut .
Paying for Medical Travel
Three programs offer benefits to help you pay for the cost of medical travel:
Nunavut Health Care Plan Coverage (NHCP) offers limited medical travel benefits to eligible residents.
Non-Insured Health Benefits Coverage (NIHB) provides medical travel to Nunavut Land Claim Beneficiaries.
Extended Health Benefits Coverage (EHB) offers medical travel benefits to help cover costs that are not covered by the Nunavut Health Care Plan and helps if you have used up other insurance benefits like NIHB or employee benefits.
Medical travel costs may also be paid by the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC), your employer health benefits or other insurance programs.
Visitors to Nunavut
To be eligible for medical travel through the Government of Nunavut insurance programs, you must first be a Nunavut resident enrolled in the Nunavut Health Care Plan.
If you are not a resident of Nunavut and you need medical travel during your stay in the territory, you will be responsible for all medical travel costs.
Department of Health will only organize medical travel for visitors needing emergency medevac travel to a health centre or southern hospital.
Visitors needing medevac will be invoiced for the full cost of the flight.
No travel assistance is offered to visitors to return home. You will need to make your own travel arrangements if you wish to return to the community you were visiting.
The Department of Health suggests that you buy travel insurance before visiting Nunavut. Health care in Nunavut can be very expensive. Be prepared for emergencies.