Northern Health Travel Grant 2026: Rates and How to Apply

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What the Northern Health Travel Grant Pays in 2026

The grant has two parts: a travel grant at 41 cents per kilometre and, for overnight trips, an accommodation allowance of $175 to $1,150 per trip. According to the Government of Ontario's program page, the travel grant uses the round-trip road distance from the centre of your town to the place you were treated, and it applies whether you went by car, plane, bus or train.

The province gives two worked examples on its page. A trip of 160 km each way with no hotel pays $131.20 (320 km at 41 cents). A trip of 300 km each way with one medically necessary night pays $246.00 for travel plus $175.00 for lodging, or $421.00 in total.

These figures match on both the ministry's web page and the June 2026 edition of the application form 0327-88E (opens in a new tab). The old column still matters if you're filing a late claim for a trip from before December 2024, since you have 12 months from the service date.

Three costs are never covered: meals, taxis and round trips by ambulance. If you went one way by ambulance and came home by car or bus, the program page says you may get a partial grant.

Who Qualifies: Residence, OHIP and the 100 km Rule

Five tests apply, and the form says a patient must meet all 5 rules. Per the province's 2026 form instructions:

1. You live in Northern Ontario. Your main home must be in Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay or Timiskaming district, and you must be OHIP-insured on the date of service.
2. You were referred for insured care in Ontario or Manitoba. The service has to be an insured service under Ontario's Health Insurance Act.
3. The nearest suitable provider is at least 100 km away, one way, by road. The grant is based on the nearest specialist or ministry-funded facility that can provide the care without a delay that would harm your health, not on the one you chose.
4. The provider is on the eligible list. That includes a Royal College-certified specialist, a Manitoba specialist on the Manitoba Health Specialist Register, a physician with a CPSO specialist certificate other than family practice, a GP with a CPSO Focused Practice designation, a non-specialist dentist in the Cleft Lip/Palate Program or the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program, or a ministry-funded facility such as a CT scan site. Fitting, adjusting or repairing orthotics and prosthetics by a vendor approved by the Assistive Devices Program also counts.
5. Nobody else pays. Travel covered by WSIB, private insurance, third-party liability, an employer or the Non-Insured Health Benefits program for First Nations and Inuit is excluded.

A common mistake is assuming a family doctor's appointment in a bigger town qualifies. It doesn't, unless that doctor holds one of the specialist designations above. Another is driving past a closer specialist to see one you prefer: the ministry pays only the distance to the nearest one that can provide the care in time, so you may get less than you expected or nothing at all if that closer option sits within 100 km.

What Changed on December 1, 2024, and What Didn't

The 2024 expansion more than doubled the lodging allowance, but the per-kilometre rate stayed at 41 cents. According to the province's 2024 Budget (opens in a new tab), Ontario committed $45 million over three years to the program, including an extra $75 a night for accommodation. The Auditor General's 2025 follow-up lists what the ministry changed in December 2024:

The province's December 2024 announcement added two more changes: a signature from the referring provider is no longer required, and more provider and facility types became eligible, with community laboratories named as an example. Then on December 1, 2025, according to the Government of Ontario's OHIP InfoBulletin 251103 (opens in a new tab), an online application opened with a new one-page Specialty-Service Provider Form.

Dropping the deductible is worth exactly $41 on every round trip (100 km at 41 cents), which matters more on short trips. On a 100 km trip each way, it lifts the travel grant from $41 to $82.

Grantsights Analysis: How Far 41 Cents Goes

Grantsights analysis of the federal benchmark shows the NHTG rate covers 56% of what a kilometre of driving costs by the government's own yardstick (41 cents against 73 cents). According to the Government of Canada's January 14, 2026 announcement (opens in a new tab), the 2026 tax-exempt allowance an employer can pay for business driving in the provinces is 73 cents per km for the first 5,000 km. The Auditor General used the same kind of comparison in 2023. That rate is for employers, not health travel, so treat it only as a measure of real driving costs.

The lodging allowance has its own quirk. Because the brackets are flat amounts, the value per night swings widely. We calculated it from the 2026 table:

Our honest take: the December 2024 changes made short specialist trips much fairer, but long treatment stays are still thin. A patient in northern Ontario facing several weeks of daily treatment away from home gets the same $1,150 as someone who stays eight nights. If that's you, ask the hospital about patient lodges or reduced partner hotel rates before you book, and look at the charity and social assistance options further down.

Grantsights Analysis of Program Volume and Spending

The program handles close to 200,000 claims a year. According to the Auditor General of Ontario's 2023 report, the ministry approved about 205,000 applications worth about $56 million in 2018/19 and just over 170,000 worth about $45 million in 2022/23. The province's December 2024 announcement put 2023-24 at close to 200,000 reimbursements, $54.2 million in total and an average of $318 per grant.

Grantsights couldn't find published totals for 2024-25 or 2025-26, the first full years at the higher lodging rates. The Auditor General's 2025 follow-up says the ministry was still revising the program's four performance indicators, due by April 2026: average cost per approved application, applications processed per month, percentage returned per month, and percentage processed within 30 business days.

How to Apply Online or by Mail

There are two routes, and both need one application per round trip, received within 12 months of the service date. According to the province's program page, the online application gives instant confirmation of submission, and the ministry says fewer online applications get returned for missing information.

Online (since December 1, 2025):

1. Before or during your appointment, ask the specialist or facility to complete and sign the one-page NHTG Specialty-Service Provider Form, including the number of medically necessary lodging nights.
2. Open the online application from the "Apply online" link on the ministry's NHTG page (opens in a new tab).
3. Upload the signed provider form, your lodging receipts and any air, bus or rail tickets as scans or PDFs. The ministry asks you not to photograph documents, and it notes that hotels often email a PDF receipt you can attach directly.
4. Choose direct deposit or a cheque. First-time direct deposit needs a bank payroll direct deposit form or a void cheque.

By mail with form 0327-88:

1. Get the form from the Ontario Central Forms Repository, the ministry or a northern health-care provider.
2. Complete Section 1 (patient), Section 2 (companion, if any), Section 3 (only if a third-party agency advanced your travel money), Section 4 (payment preference) and Section 5 (your signature). Sections 4 and 5 are mandatory.
3. Have the specialist or facility complete Section 6, which records the service date, whether you were hospitalized and the number of lodging nights. On the June 2026 form, Section 6 also asks whether the service was part of the Ontario Fertility Program, the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program or the Cleft Lip and Palate Program.
4. Mail the form with original receipts to: Ministry of Health, Northern Health Travel Grant Program, 159 Cedar Street, 7th Floor, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 6A5. Photocopies aren't accepted by mail.

Receipts that get claims returned: a credit card slip in place of an itemized hotel receipt, a hotel receipt without the patient's name and stay dates, or a plane ticket that doesn't show the fare paid and who travelled. You don't need gas receipts to apply, but the ministry asks you to keep them for 12 months in case of an audit. Points-based tickets, such as Air Miles, are accepted with the itinerary.

Companions, Children, Air Travel and Advances

A companion must be at least 16 years old, and companion rules are the part of the program families find hardest. According to the province's page, a companion must be 16 or older, travel with the patient, and pay a fare if travelling by air, rail or bus. If you drive together, the patient and companion share one grant; the form says half can go to each.

• Children: a parent or guardian with custody signs for a patient under 16. For patients under 18, the lodging receipt can be in the parent's or guardian's name. Parents of a child with a long-term disability who make these trips often can also look at the Canada Disability Savings Grant guide for longer-term savings help.
• Adults who need help: the form's instructions describe a companion grant for patients under 16, yet the application asks any patient travelling with a companion to certify they couldn't travel without one. The page and form don't spell out how an adult patient's companion is assessed, so call 1-800-262-6524 before you buy a second plane ticket.
• Hospitalized patients: since December 1, 2024, a companion staying near a hospitalized patient can claim the accommodation allowance.
• Several patients in one car: only one travel grant is paid per round trip.
• Agency advances: if a social services office or other approved agency paid for your trip up front, Section 3 directs the grant to that agency instead of you.

If you're denied, ask for an internal review within 12 months. Exceptional medical cases, such as being sent past a closer specialist for a medical reason, go in writing to the Medical Appeals Committee at the Sudbury address, with a supporting letter from your northern referring provider.

What the Ministry's Page Doesn't Tell You About the NHTG

The program page is clear on rates but quiet on a few points that cost people money:

• You pay first, then wait about six weeks. The Auditor General notes applicants have to cover travel costs up front. Cheques go out within 6 weeks of a complete application. If you can't front the money, the Ontario Works and ODSP routes below can advance it.
• The rate is a red flag the ministry has been told about. The Auditor General found in 2023 that 41 cents hadn't changed since 2007, when the federal employer rate was already 50 cents. Its 2025 follow-up marked the re-evaluation recommendation fully implemented on the strength of the December 2024 changes, but the per-kilometre rate itself didn't move.
• The page and the form disagree on companions. As noted above, check before you travel rather than after.
• "Nearest provider" is decided by the ministry. If your specialist is farther than a closer one that could have seen you in time, expect the grant to be cut to the shorter distance unless you win an appeal.
• Telemedicine may replace the trip. The form urges patients to consider the Ontario Telemedicine Network, which supports almost every clinical specialty. Ask your specialist whether a follow-up visit can happen by video.
• The province is studying alternatives. The Auditor General's 2025 follow-up says a University of Toronto team gave the ministry an economic evaluation in June 2025 that found visiting specialist clinics in the north are likely cost saving compared with sending patients south, and recommended more of them.

Help When the Grant Doesn't Cover Enough

The NHTG covers roughly half of driving costs and nothing for meals, so most families stack it with other help. Here's what's available in 2026.

Ontario Works. According to the Government of Ontario's Ontario Works health benefits directive (opens in a new tab) (updated April 14, 2026), medical travel costs are paid when they exceed $15 per benefit unit in a month. Northern residents must apply for the NHTG for trips over 100 km, and while the grant is pending they sign an Agreement to Reimburse and an Assignment and Direction. NHTG money above what Ontario Works advanced for the same trip is exempt as income and assets, and travel costs can include meals and accommodation en route.

ODSP. The Mandatory Special Necessities directive (opens in a new tab) (updated June 2, 2026) pays transportation to medical treatment when costs reach $15 or more per benefit unit in a month. Northern residents go through the NHTG, with the form sent to the ODSP office and the completed form and receipts returned after the trip, or an overpayment may be applied. ODSP recommends nightly maximums of $200 in North 1 and $210 in North 2, and meal allowances of $5 for breakfast, $8 for lunch and $15 for dinner, which the NHTG never pays.

First Nations and Inuit (NIHB). The federal Non-Insured Health Benefits program covers medical transportation for registered First Nations and recognized Inuit clients, including meals after six hours away and escorts in set cases, but trips need prior approval. Indigenous Services Canada's medical transportation policy framework (opens in a new tab) says clients must first exhaust other sources, while the NHTG excludes travel NIHB pays for. Neither document says which comes first for a given trip, so call the Ontario NIHB office that serves you before travelling: Thunder Bay at 1-877-779-7749 or Sioux Lookout at 1-888-283-8885, per the NIHB contact page (opens in a new tab).

Hope Air. This charity books free flights, hotel nights and meal vouchers for Canadians in financial need who must travel for medical care. Its site says eligibility and the number of nights vary by province and available funding.

Related Canadian guides. Seniors in other provinces can compare our Nova Scotia Seniors Care Grant guide. Families with a disabled child can read the Canada Disability Savings Grant guide. Northern students heading south for college or university should read the OSAP grants guide, and community groups building seniors' transport programs can look at the New Horizons for Seniors Program guide.

Scams and Red Flags

The ministry's form and online application don't charge anything, payment comes only by cheque or direct deposit labelled NOTS, and cheques arrive within 6 weeks of a complete application. Keep these points in mind:

• Nobody can "speed up" a claim for a fee. Processing runs on the ministry's six-week timeline whoever submits.
• Only one phone line handles the program: 1-800-262-6524. Hang up on a caller who says they're from the NHTG and asks for your bank login or health card number, then call that number yourself.
• Watch for fake forms. Download form 0327-88 only from the Ontario Central Forms Repository or get it from your provider.
• Report fraud. The Canada Revenue Agency's fraud protection page (opens in a new tab) explains how to spot government impersonation, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (opens in a new tab) takes reports.

Sources Checked

All pages were read, and PDFs downloaded, on November 10, 2026.

• Government of Ontario: Northern Health Travel Grant program (opens in a new tab) (last updated January 14, 2026), Application for Northern Health Travel Grant, form 0327-88E (2026/06) (opens in a new tab), NHTG online form on00817 listing (opens in a new tab), OHIP InfoBulletin 251103 (November 19, 2025) (opens in a new tab)
• Government of Ontario: 2024 Ontario Budget, Chapter 1, Section B (opens in a new tab), Ontario Works Policy Directive 7.2, Health Benefits (opens in a new tab), ODSP Income Support Directive 9.12, Mandatory Special Necessities (opens in a new tab)
• Office of the Auditor General of Ontario: Hospitals in Northern Ontario, 2023 Annual Report (opens in a new tab), Follow-Up on the 2023 Performance Audit, 2025 Annual Report (opens in a new tab)
• Province of Ontario, "Ontario Connecting People in the North to Health Care Services," December 1, 2024 news release, as republished by MPP Stephen Lecce's office (opens in a new tab)
• Government of Canada: Department of Finance, 2026 automobile allowance rates (January 14, 2026) (opens in a new tab), Indigenous Services Canada, NIHB Medical Transportation Policy Framework (Interim) (opens in a new tab), NIHB contacts (opens in a new tab), CRA, Protect yourself against fraud (opens in a new tab)
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (opens in a new tab)
• Hope Air (opens in a new tab)