Robert Hawkins

The reality is we’re making doctors manage. Why aren’t we looking at those issues to save money in our system rather than cutting away at supplementary health benefits?

Mr. Speaker, streamlining access sounds like a reduction of services to me. I’m not sure where the Minister...how she understands it that way.

Mr. Speaker, when I referred to Nunavut services as a priority, we send our team professionals here, whether they’re physio or speech, to places in Nunavut and that makes their clients more of a priority when we have people here not getting full services. On top of that, it’s a billing issue.

But, Mr. Speaker, my question, as stated before, and I’ll ask it this way: Mr. Speaker, again, we’ll have a difference of opinion on reduced services or money, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Al Shortt, one of the YK No. 1 School trustees. He’s in the gallery today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I highlighted the fact that we’ve got doctors acting like either summer students or clerks. In my statement I also pointed out that we’re not billing properly. So are we like a diamond mine? No, we’re not. But the strategy and process and thinking is exactly the same: wise resources and good use of them. Would the Minister re-examine the issue of establishing a position that looks at how we use our resources to make sure we’re using them in the most efficient way? It’s not about the question of providing resources, it’s how we spend the money...

Thank you kindly, Mr. Speaker. On one hand the Minister will say in this House that the supplementary health benefit changes are not about reducing costs. The question still stands: what services are provided within the Department of Health and Social Services that examine the cost of our health dollars to ensure that they are being used wisely?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Co-payment is a reduction in services. Mr. Speaker, when you grandfather people, that’s a reduction of services to the people who follow after them. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand from the one-sided point of view of this full evaluation, as I’ve been trying to highlight, we can save money so we can make sure we don’t have to make these changes. I’m trying to understand how come the Minister keeps defending that there are no changes when we keep highlighting that there are. Thank you.

I keep telling the Minister we’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table, whether it’s through WCB… We charge through WCB but we don’t charge through federal programs where they provide individual insurance. Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister what do we do to make sure we’re collecting all the fees and services, and I’ve pointed out whether it’s insurance through, for example, auto insurance, like I said last week, whether it’s getting full payment from Nunavut on services we provide to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister is completely incorrect in us being able to bill insurance companies for services that they are rightly responsible for. I’d like to hear the Minister on how she defines reduction of services for supplementary health benefits is not considered cutting services.

Mr. Speaker, we charge WCB for cost and injuries, so why don’t we consider that? Mr. Speaker, we send people out to Nunavut and don’t get paid for the contracts. We know that for a fact. Mr. Speaker, we spend at least $200 a minute in health care in our Northwest Territories, and the reality is…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I was raising issue with what I define as a poor usage of health care dollars, and I certainly hope it’s not a fact that people don’t care about the usage of health care dollars. But, Mr. Speaker, the management and the organization of these health care dollars seems to be a bit of a challenging question here.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what has she done from the point of view of the context of waste busters to ensure that we’re getting the best value for our health care dollars...