Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a motion put forward by the Elders Parliament on the Supplementary Health Benefits Program. Thank you.

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...

Mr. Speaker, they have researched their option for three years; they haven’t considered options or alternatives we have asked them to. I would like to ask her again, why didn’t they?

Coming back to my original question, what about those individuals who have insurance from their employer now but have a significant condition that has high costs? If you have a cost that is $10,000 a month -- and there are some of those individuals -- and you have insurance that covers, say, 80 percent of your cost, you are still going to be out of pocket $2,000 a month. But because you have insurance, you are not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and are on the supplemental health program.

Before I start, I would like to thank the Minister for acknowledging what we all feared was true, that the changes are actually taxed on the sick and the elderly. The Minister has talked about doing things in the fairest way and opening up the system to everybody. She has also indicated that it is not available to all non-aboriginals. The Minister is a master of doublespeak, because, in fact, it is available to everybody right now. Specified medical...

Based on this policy, no options other than income-tested models could or would ever be considered. How could the Minister go back to the drawing board if the final income-tested product was already agreed upon and supported by Cabinet?

We must do something to help the low income families who do not have insurance through their employer. It’s the right thing to do; however, this is not the way. Minister Lee’s redesign of the Extended Health Benefits lacks credibility, transparency, or sound evidence to help justify it as the only model worthy of consideration. It’s not right, it’s not just, and...

Okay, the next document I have to table is a policy on supplemental health benefits, 49-09, dated September 30th, 2007.

The next document I have to table is a list of Extended Health Benefits Program conditions that are covered under the existing program, and the last document I have to table is a process convention for standing committee review of proposed policy initiatives and implementation action plans that was agreed to by Caucus in Fort Smith and we confirmed in Blachford Lake. Thank you very much.

In the policy that Cabinet put out they indicate that the territorial Supplemental Health Benefits Program should be designed in a manner that does not cause employers to reduce supplementary health benefits programs to their employees; i.e., insurance. Everything the Minister just said pretty much encourages everybody to dump their insurance. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Even people who are making a lot of money who have insurance, if they have a catastrophic condition, it’s in their best interest not to have insurance from their provider. So right there on that fact they’re going...

Mr. Speaker, it sure sounded like that is what she said on this side of the House. If Hansard proves that she didn’t in fact say that it is going to be a tax on the sick and the elderly, I do apologize for that. But I didn’t hear a response to my question. Basically, if you look at the list of conditions that are covered under the extended benefits, it covers pretty much every condition. I think the only one that I could figure out that is missing on here is high cholesterol, so these low income families that she is talking about, if they want coverage for drugs, they can get it. They can get...