Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; there is a provision there that would allow me to go back to the Cabinet for revision. We heard and analyzed and reviewed the feedback that we got from the public, and based on the analysis we had, we did not conclude that we had to go back to Cabinet for revision, but we did go to the Cabinet with options on what we have heard. Thank you.

Given the contentious and difficult issue we are dealing with, I don’t think we could have everybody agree to the proposals being put forward and it can’t be about coming up with a program that everybody is happy with, especially if you are realigning programs. At the end of the day, government has to make some choices and we have to make decisions together about how do we make sure that we have this program that includes the people that are currently excluded, minimizes the impact as much as possible and to see how we make this program not eat up other programs unreasonably, because as Member...

It is absolutely an essential part of discussions to discuss how does this relate to core health service. Mr. Speaker, maybe the Members think $8.5 million is a small amount of money. I would like to hear from the other side about how do we find that. Eight and a half million dollars every year is not a small amount of money. That would be lots of core services, Mr. Speaker.

The fact of the matter is the health care issue now is a number one issue for Canadians; all jurisdictions in Canada. Ontario is projecting that it will spend 55 percent of their budget on health services in the next two...

Mr. Speaker, we have provided the information that we have been using. If the Member has that information that she would like to get, I would be happy to accommodate that. I don’t know what she means by... I guess she is talking about a table with 100 different ideas.

Mr. Speaker, as I have said already, we are not inventing a new wheel. This is a commonly used model everywhere in the country. We have designed our program more fairly and generous than anything in the market, other than Nunavut. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. As the Member knows, this has been consulted, and studied, and analysed. We have the final proposal out here, Mr. Speaker. My preference is to work with the Members and see how to make this workable. There was a question about the fact that MLA Abernethy raised, and I think MLA Groenewegen raised it too, we don’t want to have a system where everybody dumps their insurance. The program as it exists now, because we cover universally to anybody who is over 60 or with a chronic condition, we have a system where everybody drops their health insurance. We have one of the lowest rates of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The expected cost to the government over the next four years is $8,539,702 next year, $8,824,108 the year after, $9,341,402 the year after, and about $9,893,970 for the year of 2013-14, understanding that when you’re talking about health care costs, you’re talking about estimates because it’s demand driven, it’s whoever walks in the door. But, Mr. Speaker, we expect that the new program would cost around $8.5 to $9.8 million every year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we have heard that concern. As the Members might remember, the first time when we came out with this proposal, the implementation plan, was that there would be two types of different programs and the income cut-off was $45,000. Everybody told us that that was not workable and we have to make a more flexible program. This is why we have revised the program so that income threshold starts at $50,000 for a single person and about $70,000 for a couple. But if you have children, the threshold goes up, up to the point of $170,000 to $190,000.

Mr. Speaker, no other program...

Thank you. The fact of the matter is we are, and the Members know that I have made a presentation to the planning committee. We have a process in place where we work on policies like this together. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if there is any forum more public than the Legislative Assembly. This is a work in progress and I have a proposal before the Members and I look forward to hearing what Members have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Anybody who declines to take on that extension, they could renew it at any time. Within 90 days of application, it will be reinstated. Second thing is, Mr. Speaker, I have unfairly attributed that HR staff tells people that; it is a hearsay. People said that they were given the option of not renewing and they told us to do that because we have a built-in incentive in our Supplementary Health Program to drop these insurance programs. Thank you.

I think one thing we should not lose sight of, because it keeps getting repeated, is that this proposal is taking away benefits from seniors in order to pay for benefits for those who are excluded, because that is totally not true. Most people… Mr. Speaker, what this program is doing, is doing what the government has to do. The government has an obligation to help those who need help from us. There are people, low-income families who are excluded from most essential benefits such as eye care and dental. So for some people that might seem small, but that’s important and government has a role to...