A rural health-care advocate welcomes additional provincial support for ferry-dependent communities, but also expresses hope that government will follow through on other promises and address gaps. 

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne announced Thursday (Dec. 19) the expansion of the Travel Assistance Program for medical care to seven, privately managed ferry routes serving coastal communities on Vancouver Island as well as the provincial mainland. 

With an annual budget of $14.5 million, TAP supports patients who need to travel by air, ground and BC Ferries to communities other than their own to access non-emergency medical specialists. Government last year approved almost 99,000 TAP requests. The program coexists with dedicated funding for rural patients needing cancer care in other parts of the province. 

Paul Adams, executive director of the BC Rural Health Network, said the inclusion of those ferry routes is welcome, because those communities are "indeed challenged" when it comes to accessing specialists. Communities covered by the expansion include Tahsis and Kyuqout with service to Gold River as well Metlakatla, Oona River, Kitkatla, and Hartley Bay to Prince Rupert.

But Adams also points to some missing pieces. Premier David Eby promised during the election that government would expand TAP by $5 million to cover mileage if travel by air is neither feasible nor available. The government would also cover costs up-front rather than reimburse them later.

Osborne said her government remains committed to expanding support for medical travel, but could not give specific answers when it comes to Eby's election promise.

"Although I don't have details today to talk you yet about exactly what that will look like, that is a commitment that our government has made and as B.C. Health Minister, I will be following through on that," she says.

Adams also highlighted the need to cover out-of-pocket expenses for longer stays; the need to create clarity about which services are available through which organization; the need to consult with communities about their needs; and the expansion of funding currently available for cancer patients to other serious diseases. 

These calls echo the work of a recent report presented at UBCM this fall calling for a stable, dedicated fund with a limited bureaucracy that would also create clarity about how money would be available for each kind of ailment.