Children need openness about illness
Children can be greatly affected when their parents, siblings or other close carers suffer from physical or mental illness or substance abuse. This article is in Norwegian.
Many patients bring a travel companion with them to their treatment. Provided certain conditions are met, travel companions and next of kin can also claim reimbursement for their travel expenses.
A travel companion is someone who accompanies a patient to and from the treatment centre. This could be a neighbour, friend, next of kin or other private individual. A travel companion may be entitled to claim back their travel expenses according to the same rules as the patient when a treatment provider documents that a travel companion is necessary for health reasons.
Travel companions can apply for reimbursement for their travel expenses after they have completed their journey. If it can be documented that public transport has been used, both the patient and an essential travel companion can claim reimbursement for their travel expenses.
Travel by car is reimbursed at a single standard rate per kilometre, regardless of the number of passengers. The travel companion does not have to pay a user fee for the trip. Travel companions can apply for support for lost earnings.
If the travel companion’s journey exceeds 300 kilometres, this will be reimbursed in the same way as for the patient. This means that their expenses will be reimbursed as if the journey had been made via the cheapest form of public transport available on the route.
If you have a requisition for a journey, your treatment provider must state on the requisition that you must be accompanied by a travel companion on the journey.
Children under the age of 18 can be accompanied by a travel companion without any need for documentation from the treatment provider. If you are applying for reimbursement of your travel expenses as a guardian of a child aged between 12 and 18, you must enclose confirmation that the child has attended their treatment appointment (confirmation of attendance) with your application. This is to safeguard the child's privacy.
Travel expenses for one travel companion will normally be reimbursed, but both parents can claim reimbursement for their travel expenses when their child is being admitted to hospital, regardless of whether or not they travel with the child.
In some cases, a patient may need to be accompanied by two travel companions due to their health. The treatment provider must state this in a requisition or separate document, which must then be enclosed with the application.
A qualified travel companion on a journey means a travel companion who can provide medical treatment if necessary. Examples of this are a nurse, doctor, physiotherapist and midwife. Under certain circumstances, other people may also be considered to be a qualified travel companion, such as a police officer, specialist teacher, interpreter for the deaf or ordinary interpreter.
In this case next of kin are spouses, cohabitants, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, children-in-law, parents-in-law and siblings, as well as people who belong to the same household as the patient.
In principle, relatives of a patient are not entitled to travel allowance, for example if relatives travel to visit an admitted patient.
But there are some exceptions:
Documentation of this must be attached to the application. The right does not apply to minor relatives who travel to visit, or be with parents or siblings.
When next of kin make such journeys, the application must be submitted using the paper-based travel expenses claim form. If, as the patient’s next of kin, you have accompanied a patient to or from treatment, see the information about travel companions.
Children can be greatly affected when their parents, siblings or other close carers suffer from physical or mental illness or substance abuse. This article is in Norwegian.
Contact Pasientreiser with questions about filling out a travel expenses claim form, covering travel expenses or booking your patient trip.
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Content provided by Patient travel in Norway
Last updated Friday, June 11, 2021