Sandy Lee

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.

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...

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.

Mr. Speaker, the policy says if the Minister wants to make revisions, the Minister has to make specific recommendations on that. We incorporated the feedback that we had heard and if we were to decide that income test will not be used or the major items of the policy was to be changed, that would have had to go back to Cabinet.

The fact of the matter is, we did the analysis. We as a government feel that this cannot be universal. The Minister of Finance did a round of consultation on revenue options and taxation. We heard soundly from everyone that raising tax is not an option that we should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of overhauling the Supplementary Heath Benefits Program is, one, there is a group of our citizens who need supplementary health benefits that are excluded from the current program; two, the way it is designed now is administratively cumbersome and Member...(inaudible)...talked about the administrative difficulties, specified conditions is run by exceptions; and, third, there is no appeal mechanisms for people who are not happy with the system we have now, so we needed to clear out those issues; and, fourth, the program as it exists now is not fair or...

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Member said people are not stupid. They are not going to... Why get an insurance or work on a job if you are on the threshold? If you make $51,000, you have to pay a whole bunch of money. If you are $49,000, you are not going to. Of course, people are going to drop those as it is happening right now. We have lots of people that are dropping it. It isn’t only because when you are retiring, the government and HR employees say, well, you don’t have to keep that. People are not stupid. I’m sorry. People do what works for them. So that is why we are suggesting in this...

Mr. Speaker, this issue has been discussed in and out of this House since 2003. You will hear very frank input in the report that we have submitted today. I know people are very concerned about these programs and whenever you are making changes, it is difficult. It is difficult for us to talk about what we need to do. We need to be clear about what we need to do. We need to be able to find a way to help those who are currently excluded. We need to be able to do it in a way that minimizes the impact of the changes. We need to do it in a way that we have a sustainable health care system where...

The Member is right that we have lots of people in our communities who have a permanent, twenty-four hour medical and health staff. Their services are provided by communities outside. We have to rely on medical travel to do that and obviously the people who live in these communities are entitled to good service and quick access. So, no, we don’t expect people who aren’t well to be waiting in pain. We do have a policy in place to do that. I know the medical director team in the Beaufort-Delta is reviewing the response policy and I will get back to the Member with the details of that. We are...

Mr. Speaker, we have a proposal before us and we have an opportunity to work on that. I believe, as I’ve stated already, this is a difficult issue and it does take some courage and resolve on our part to make changes, Mr. Speaker. We cannot say that cover the working poor, cover those 2,200 people, find the money to do it, raise taxes, go without. We can’t continue to say that, Mr. Speaker. The Members here have an obligation to listen to everybody as well. I keep being told that I need to listen to everybody. Yes, we are listening to everybody and we have to make decisions. We are here to...

This is an important issue and I’m not sure if we want to talk about who sent what e-mail and when. I can assure you that I do have a chronology of the invitation from the pharmacy association and our response was prompt and swift. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, the pharmacy association is welcome to give their input, but the fact of the matter is, yes, they’re a front-line provider.

The Supplementary Health Plan we are suggesting is in place in every other jurisdiction in Canada. That’s what all the other pharmacists and pharmacies do use. So, Mr. Speaker, as a front-line provider, that’s not...