What are the costs involved in donating a kidney?
Your medical costs will be covered by your provincial or territorial health plan, however, in most provinces travel, accommodation, meals and out-of-pocket expenses will not be covered. Governments are beginning to understand that living donors should not have to bear a financial burden in order to donate an organ for transplant and that donors need financial help to cover their expenses. The provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, in partnership with the Kidney Foundation of Canada, will now reimburse living donors for pre-approved expenses related to the donation of a kidney to a resident of the respective provinces. The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, through the Trillium Gift of Life Network, has established a similar fund with the potential to have the reimbursements retroactive to August 3, 2007, on a case-by-case basis. Other provinces may also be evaluating the issue of financial support for living donors, so ask your donor co-ordinator for the latest informa
