Should the GNWT spend more on medical travel escorts?

“It’s medical travel, let’s go!”

So begins the chorus of Yellowknife band Upper Mall Rats’ song Medical Travel, and the theme of several MLAs’ lines of questioning in the current sitting of the Legislative Assembly.

The “particularly raucous” song received a shoutout from Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse in the House as he praised the second Still Dark music festival. MLAs Kieron Testart, Robert Hawkins and Richard Edjericon – who make up a self-styled “independent members caucus” – have also spent multiple days asking the territory to update its policies and provide more funding for medical travel escorts.

Testart called on the NWT government to establish a policy that would allow escorts for patients travelling by ambulance or emergency medevac. Such a policy was the subject of a motion passed by regular MLAs in March 2025.

“Families deserve support in moments of crisis, not confusion, stress, and financial burden,” he said.

Hawkins requested automatic approval of escorts for seniors, Elders and vulnerable patients.

Edjericon asked the territory to reimburse the Łútsël K’é Dene First Nation for $50,000 he said the First Nation spent on travel and accommodations for an escort after an Elder became sick during travel to Alberta.

He also called on the NWT to establish an emergency fund to cover flights and accommodations for escorts to accompany Indigenous patients in emergencies when approvals for non-insured health benefits may be delayed.

GNWT reviewing medical travel

Responding to the MLAs, health minister Lesa Semmler acknowledged concerns with medical travel have been raised over the years.

She said the territorial government is working to bring care closer to home for residents and to modernize medical travel.

Semmler said concerns need to go through the territory’s current policies and processes for approval, given taxpayer dollars are being spent.

She said the NWT’s focus is on ensuring residents get the care they need.

“We’re trying to ensure we’re finding the money that’s being spent on travel that probably could be saved and then we can use that funding,” she said.

“Otherwise, we would have to look internally and start to look at money that’s within the NTHSSA and reallocate that from things that are also important to the residents of the Northwest Territories.”

Semmler told Edjericon if residents leave the NWT on their own, there is no medical travel support for escorts.

“If the government has to pay for every single time somebody left this territory and had a medical emergency for their families to travel and stay with them, my whole budget would be based on paying for that,” she said. “We have to stay within the process and the policies that we have.”

New case managers brought in

A recent report by the NWT government indicates the number of cases and costs for medical travel has steadily increased over the past three years.

According to the report, the number of scheduled and emergency medical travel cases increased from 17,478 in 2022-23 to 23,004 in 2024-25.

Over the same period, spending on medical travel rose from $56.1 million to $80 million but net spending decreased from $28.2 million to $15.8 million as the territory was able to recoup a greater percentage of costs from third parties.

The report attributes the increased demand to specialized service needs, regional staff vacancies and a rise in travel for uninsured health services.

Cases involving escorts accounted for 36 percent of all medical travel cases and half of cases involving out-of-territory travel in 2024-25, at a total cost of $16.5 million.

The NWT’s latest budget proposes $486,000 to launch a two-year project with three nurse case manager positions aimed at reducing avoidable medical travel costs and improving patient experience.

“There’s many times where we have locums and casual nurses that are coming in to fill some vacancies and they don’t necessarily understand our referral processes,” Semmler said, explaining that can lead to unnecessary medical travel.

“So that’s going to reduce that cost, [having those] case managers being able to make those calls and work with the physicians and the specialists that are making those referrals.”

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