Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of the Supplementary Health Benefits Program. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 1, 944 signatures of Yellowknife residents and, Mr. Speaker, the petition requests that access to supplementary health benefits be expanded and that Extended Health Benefits Program for seniors remains unchanged. The petitioners also request that existing revenue from territorial income tax be used to fund the expansion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is not horrible news. It still doesn’t mean that what we are doing is the right thing. It is my understanding that, if they jump back in, it is based on age, so now they are going to spend a lot more money than they would have if they jumped in when they were originally encouraged not to. I understand what the Minister is saying is for GNWT staff. What about all the other staff? What about all the other staff? What about all the other staff from other employers who were encouraged to don’t bother taking the health insurance because don’t worry, the GNWT has got this great seniors’ program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I finally heard what the real problem is. The Minister has been dodging this one for a long time I think. The problem is we as a government have been supporting ourselves to have people dump insurance. We have people telling people that are retiring, don’t get insurance because we will cover it. I know there are other employers that are out there saying, don’t get that insurance or don’t take our government insurance because if you don’t you can get full coverage by the GNWT. We have actually supported an environment where we are encouraging people to dump...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am listening, but I’m not really hearing any responses. So I’m just going to ask a related question slightly different.

Consistently the Minister talks about a program that is generous and equitable. Clearly, there are people excluded from this. Anybody with insurance in the Northwest Territories is excluded completely from any top-up. In some cases, most people, if costs aren’t high, that might be alright, except in some cases people do have catastrophic conditions where the costs are clearly high, and I think those numbers are larger than the Minister is accepting. I...

Mr. Speaker, I think it is a far bigger problem than the Minister is giving it any credit for. I met a young man yesterday. He has a chronic condition. It costs him $10,000 a month. If that individual, who just graduated from university goes and works for the GNWT, he gets 80 percent coverage under his insurance. Therefore, he is only going to be spending $2,000 a month out of pocket. He is probably going to start at about $50,000, so if he chose to say, okay, I don’t want to work for the GNWT, I am going to go somewhere where they don’t give me insurance, he is going to get all the money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Originally, I was going to ask questions to the Premier on supplementary health, but now I am going to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions on supplementary health. In responding to Ms. Bisaro, the Minister of Health said that this new policy excludes nobody. Can the Minister please confirm for me that this new policy that is going to be proposed is not going to exclude anybody? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I tabled a process convention that was fully agreed upon by Caucus in Fort Smith last summer on the standing committee review of proposed policy initiatives and implementation plans. This process convention outlines the roles of Cabinet, Ministers and committees, when it comes to establishing new policies or making substantive amendments to or rescinding of existing policies. This process convention does not apply to minor administrative amendments which will not significantly impact established policy commitments.

I suggest that the proposed...

I would like to call Committee of the Whole to order. On our agenda we have Tabled Document 4-16(5), Executive Summary of the Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project. What is the wish of the committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister hit it on the head. Let’s do something to find a solution for those people who don’t have insurance. That is our problem. Right now they are already covered for drugs, under supplemental or specified medical condition, so we need to find a way to get them dental and eye care. So let’s do that. But what she is doing is creating a program that is going to be a disincentive, she says. I don’t know how she is going to do it, but the Minister says we are going to encourage people to keep their insurance. People aren’t stupid, Mr. Speaker. If they look at...

Mr. Speaker, I find that response kind of funny, because when I look at the Minister’s numbers in the presentations that were provided, I see 1,232 people that are being excluded from this policy. Pretty much anybody that has insurance is excluded. If you have insurance, you are excluded. Therefore, not everybody is covered by this policy. My biggest concern is not all 1,232, although I do have a concern for all of them, my biggest concern is for the 532 people that have insurance that are currently receiving specified medical condition support under supplemental health. By cutting those...