Sandy Lee
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows he’s asked me lots of questions about the deficit of our department. I’ve indicated many a time that we have a health and social services deficit. It’s in the multi-millions. We are not able to expand any programs. The respite care program was a pilot project and it was time limited. Thank you.
That’s the first time that I’ve heard of the six clients that the Member is mentioning. I will be happy to undertake to get those names and get information from the authority as to what work we are providing for them. Thank you.
That’s the precise question that is the crux or main theme of all the discussions we’ve had in the last three or, actually, last seven years since I’ve been in this House.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say again that I think that the Joint Working Group report and its recommendations and principles went a long way in making statements on that. We are committed, as I stated in the Minister’s statement, to do what we can in the time we have left, what is doable, to lay out a work plan and try to do as much as possible. I agree with Members who stated earlier that this requires a lot of work and we...
I think the important message today is that we have moved this program forward. The Cabinet announcement is based on the Joint Working Group work and Joint Working Group report, and that document will be tabled later today. It has a number of suggestions on how we should improve our Supplementary Health Benefits Program and I think it’s important for us to move forward.
As Member Groenewegen suggested, there are a lot of things that we need to do, and that Members on the other side agree on, with respect to the Health Benefits Policy. I look forward to working with the members of the Standing...
The Joint Working Group report that will be tabled later has 11 recommendations and it will become public later on, so we will be responding to those on how we can move forward in working through those recommendations wherever possible, whenever possible, as soon as possible. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, the way to look at that is that we in the Territories provide medical travel more generously than what NIHB does. So the federal government doesn’t cover for the kind of medical travel that we do. So where we can get reimbursement from the federal government, we get those. Then our aboriginal Dene/Inuit residents are the same as all the other residents and our government provides what we would provide non-aboriginal people. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Decisions surrounding health care, particularly who pays for what, are some of the most contentious and sensitive that our government faces. We have seen this over the past few years as we have attempted to resolve the inconsistencies between uninsured supplementary health benefits programs in the NWT.
Later today I will be tabling the Report of the Supplementary Health Benefits Joint Working Group. The report has been developed using our Legislative Assembly’s consensus process, in a partnership of Executive Council and the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning...
Mr. Speaker, as I have stated, the Joint Working Group, which was made up of six Members, came up with a number of recommendations and we are going to try and work through those and I am coming back with an implementation schedule/work plan on how to do them. It’s our wish to get it done within the life of this Assembly. Thank you.
As I stated, I will get back to the Member with the details.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely correct. I couldn’t say it any better and next week I am going to come to the table and say how we are going to try to get it down, as much as possible, of what needs to be done.