Aidan Jaager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Tammy O’Brien woke up one day in April 2024, completely deaf in her right ear. She knew something wasn’t right.
After a trip to the emergency room, she was referred to an ENT who told her she may have a brain tumour. An MRI later confirmed it, and a neurologist recommended O’Brien have Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKR), a procedure not offered in Saskatchewan.
She had the surgery in November in Edmonton, and said it will take her two years to fully recover.
Ministry officials told O’Brien, a 54-year-old mother of two, that her out-of-province travel expenses to have surgery would not be covered, even though she’s on a fixed income.
She was left with $854 in travel expenses and decided to phone the Ministry of Health to make them aware of her financial situation.
“At the end of the call she said I could try crowdfunding and I was shocked. I felt dismissed and degraded. When I got back from Edmonton, I sent a bill to the minister’s office and asked again that they reimburse me. I was told again that it’s not their policy to reimburse people for travel,” O’Brien said.
“I asked her if they could make an exception in my case. I said, I have a rare brain tumour. How often could this possibly happen? And she said, ‘it’s not just brain tumours and you’d be surprised how many people are travelling out of province.’ I was stunned.”
NDP health critic Keith Jorgenson said Wednesday at a press conference “that a person that has a brain tumour should not need to set up a GoFundMe page in order to access life-saving treatment.”
“It’s true in the past that people have had to leave Saskatchewan to access specialized treatment in other provinces. But never, ever, on the scale that we’re seeing now of the number of people that are forced to leave … it’s unprecedented,” Jorgenson said.
He noted that the government needs to develop a new action plan to come up with procedures that allow the system to determine situations where people’s travel costs are covered.
“Clearly in this situation it’s a life-threatening condition and the treatment is required for the person to continue to be alive. The person doesn’t have the financial means to be able to access that treatment. What we would hate to see is people dying because they can’t go and get treatment in other provinces,” Jorgenson said.
A spokesperson with the Ministry of Health said Wednesday in an emailed response that they “do not provide coverage or reimbursement for travel accommodations and meal expenses incurred while receiving medical treatment outside of the province or country.”
They added that the Canada Revenue Agency may allow some expenses to be claimed as tax deductions under the Income Tax Act in certain circumstances.
“There are also a number of community organizations throughout Saskatchewan that may offer assistance to individuals and families in similar situations who may require travel for care, such as Hope Air and the Kinsmen Foundation,” the ministry stated.
