The territorial government clarified Tuesday that there is indeed a $2-million investment being made to offset some of the costs linked to medical travel, and it will cover out-of-territory travel.

That’s thanks to a nod from Ottawa, formally announced via a release and press conference held last July.

“When a patient has been found by an authorized practitioner to require a medical service which is not available locally, air travel is covered at 100 per cent,” Clarissa Wall, a Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) spokesperson, wrote Tuesday afternoon.

That, she continues, includes flights to such cities as Vancouver and Edmonton, where Yukoners commonly obtain tests or treatment.

For those travelling by a personal vehicle, a mileage subsidy is available.

HSS minister Pauline Frost has been asked multiple times in the legislature about investments to offset medical travel.

She has on occasion referred to the department’s ongoing efforts to find efficiencies in areas like these via the comprehensive health review, which is set to be complete in the fall of 2019.

As referenced briefly in Nov. 5’s Star, Frost also mentioned the $2-million figure in her remarks to physicians at the Yukon Medical Association’s annual general meeting on Nov. 2. The amount will flow into the Yukon per year until 2021, and attempt to curtail times like 2017-18, when the costs were pegged at about $14.2 million.

For 2018-19, the government projects and has budgeted that it will spend $12.9 million for such costs. Wall explained this morning that is independent of any federal funding received by the territory.

She also noted that a travel subsidy of $75 a day will help with the cost of meals and accommodations for those who are not admitted to a facility.

That kicks in starting on the second day of travel.

An announcement about the overall funding came July 25 through a release and press conference that saw Yukon MP Larry Bagnell and Frost sign off on two agreements.

One would see about $25.6 million come into the territory over the next four years for medical travel and health system innovation.

That amount made up the Yukon’s portion of the Territorial Health Investment Fund (THIF), renewed in the 2017 federal budget. It includes $2.1 million.

“The plan is to use that to recover the rising cost of medical travel,” Wall added this morning.

In the legislature, Frost had initially mentioned there was $200,000 being dedicated to the costs.

She later corrected herself while speaking to reporters, noting that amount was indeed $2.1 million through the THIF agreement.