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.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not surprisingly, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to start by again thanking the Minister and Cabinet for moving forward in this way. I think they’ve heard the people, and this is democracy in action. I’d like to start by saying this whole process has been like crossing a wide and dry desert and finally having a glass of tall, cool water offered by the Minister here. So it is greatly appreciated. But this is relief that needs to get out there to all as the first step. There’s an anxious and traumatized public awaiting relief from the previous highly objectionable proposals. So I’m asking, in the interest of good communication that’s needed immediately with the public, what action is the Minister taking to immediately let the public know? Is there a press conference with the ability of reporters to ask questions and get the word out to our public immediately that we’re back to a reasonable approach here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the most public of public forums. We made the announcement this morning. Mrs. Groenewegen, as chair of the P and P, as well as my co-chair of the Joint Working Group, we have agreed and we are committed to working together on any of the communications that we do. We will do interviews together, because we would like to continue to work together in the spirit in which we worked together in that Joint Working Group. So, Mr. Speaker, we will be open to any interviews or anything and we will be tabling the document this afternoon, followed by a statement next week. Thank you.
I appreciate that. This is a public process, but we need lots of public processes on this, as I mentioned. There’s a highly traumatized public awaiting some relief here.
In terms of next steps, I think this decision and this work between Cabinet and this side of the House is an additional step towards resolving some of these issues. We have made some agreement on the principles that are detailed in the report and this is important progress. But it’s not a simple measure. Even our next actions still require, as the Minister has profiled and this side of the House has profiled, some back and forth and careful discussion. Can we agree that a high priority, perhaps a first priority, is progress towards ensuring that the basics of supplementary health coverage are available to everybody in the Northwest Territories through one plan or another very soon?
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 need to work through it. The important thing is, as Mrs. Groenewegen said, there are things we need to do to improve the program. So I, as Minister, am committed to work with the Members to see how we can move forward on those. Thank you.
There are clearly different perspectives on how much information analysis has been provided towards the consideration of the proposal put forward. So putting that aside, Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister if she will commit to providing thorough and transparent analyses whenever she’s bringing forward proposals for consideration of committee. Mahsi.
That’s the expectation that we live under on everything we do. So we will be following those. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to have a stab at the Minister’s statement. I’m coming at it from the aboriginal perspective. It seems like you are also going to look at the extended health benefits, but also Metis health benefits. The same thing applies to the aboriginal benefits by way of non-insured health benefits. It’s a federal program. What are we doing to consult those organizations, those aboriginal groups, Metis locals, band councils and memberships of those particular programs to ensure they are engaged in whatever we are doing here? If we are going to claw back and allow people to get third-party insurance or look at some means testing, I’d like to know what we are doing to consult those organizations that have these benefits.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Where they are impacted, one of the things in the statement is to look at all of the extended health benefits programs, Metis Health and NIHB, to find some sort of parity. Now, that would take some analysis and work and where it’s possible and appropriate, we will work with other governments to keep them in the loop. Thank you.
One of the concerns I have about the rollback is what we’re finding statistically is an aboriginal income in the Northwest Territories is around $18,000. We’re expecting them to pay anything more. It’s a question of affordability and I don’t think a lot of aboriginal people can afford to pay for coverage. There was the issue around income testing, looking at that opportunity and people getting third-party insurance. I’d like to ask, are those options still on the table and also looking at using the format that it would be some sort of wage parity in regards to how this program is going to be implemented?
The Member knows that NIHB is not part of this program and although NIHB encourages people to have third-party options and when they do, they are asked to go to that first. One of the suggestions made that we want to look at is to require all Metis health and supp health... Well, it’s no longer supp health, it’s now extended health benefits which is what’s in place. We will look at how we can implement requiring third-party insurance and allowing or encouraging people to go through that process first. So that will be part of the work that we’ll be doing moving forward.
The other issue I know that has been bounced around, and we can agree to disagree, but one of the areas that we have to look at is in regard to income testing. We have to ensure that those who can’t afford pay a little bit, those who can afford, use their coverage. So is income testing still part of the review process that’s going forward and will that also be considered in these changes?
The recommendation that we have that we need to look at it is to encourage people to get third-party insurance and use it first. So we need to look at that. We will be coming back with a work plan on how long we need to take to look at those. We hope to be able to do that sooner than later and what best way there is to encourage people to do that. We will be making those proposals. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the areas that I have issues with is with regard to when people are sick. I’ll use NIHB. There are specific things listed on NIHB that you aren’t covered for. If those things are not on the NIHB, you can’t get it. So basically if you have an illness such as cancer and you require certain vitamins or certain types of liquids, regardless of whether it’s insured, you have to pay for that under NIHB. Are we going to find ways to enhance the Catastrophic Health Program to expand so we can help those people that don’t have the financial means to get the medications or supplements they need to sustain them during their illness? Thank you.
The programs that we have for the NWT residents, whether it be NIHB, the federal government’s NIHB, Metis Health Benefits and Supp Health, that makes it so there is no need for catastrophic drug coverage. So what the Member is talking about is other things like people in low income, people can’t afford. So if you are talking about how to compare between the three programs and finding equity, that is part of the recommendation of the Joint Working Group and we need to look at those and look at the proposal. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to the Minister’s last comment with the supplementary or extended health benefits, “there’s no need for a Catastrophic Drug Program.” I’m not sure if I understand what the Minister means by that. Can she explain that to me? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
I meant simply by that under supp health benefits, as it exists now -- not supp health -- extended health benefits, people with chronic conditions or requirements, they get paid right now. They are covered right now under the existing policy. So the catastrophic drug coverage question came in because of the changes that were proposed, but that’s gone. We said that this morning. So there is no need. We have the most generous Health Benefits Program in the North and they are all covered under the existing policy. Thank you.
So just for clarity for the public, the status quo includes an Extended Health Benefits Program that includes coverage for seniors, coverage for catastrophic costs and coverage for Metis. But I think what my colleagues were asking is do aboriginal individuals who are currently covered by NIHB, if they have a catastrophic condition, they are covered by their insurance hopefully first, and then they’re covered by NIHB to a top-up, but their costs would still be significant. So under our existing programs, aboriginal people who have catastrophic conditions can still receive some top-up today. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That’s what happens right now. NIHB, then Supp Health. Thank you.
Okay, so following along my colleague’s line there, so what the department is proposing, and I support, is first insurance, then if you still have some costs, then our existing Supplementary Health Program, which includes costs for catastrophic costs if you have a catastrophic condition. You can still access that program today; we’re just asking you to help us help you by utilizing your insurance first. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member is going into the details of which we have to still work on. That’s what I am saying in saying that we need to look at how we implement the recommendations made in the Joint Working Group. Part of it is to review parity and equity between the three programs. We need to figure out how do we encourage people to get third-party insurance, how do we encourage employers to get third-party insurance. We want that to be the first option, but we need to work out how that can be done. The Member made those suggestions in our review process and there are other suggestions, but those are things we need to work on. I think it’s premature for us to talk about the details of that, because I don’t have a set plan in front of me. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree. I think what the Minister is doing is highlighting the fact that this still requires a significant amount of work and earlier she mentioned that it’s not an implementation plan she’s bringing forward next week. It’s a work plan, which is what we needed to hear; implementation plan/work plan are significantly different things. So I’m happy about that. The Minister has already agreed to work with us on this side of the House about that implementation plan. So I just realized I don’t have a question, so I’ll sit down.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have another question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, but probably to her great happiness, it’s not regarding supplementary health benefits. It’s regarding hearing tests.
I’ve had some complaints from constituents that it’s taking 18 months or more to get hearing tests here in the Northwest Territories. They’re gravely concerned. I’ve brought this to the attention of the Minister’s office and at the time the response was yes, that’s the reality. In short, what is being done on this problem and has the Department of Health and Social Services solved this problem by finally being able to bring somebody in and shorten up those wait times?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that this issue was brought up. I believe I followed up on it with the status of what was happening at the time, but I don’t have the most recent updates. I will commit to getting back to the Member on that.
The Minister is right; she did provide a response that, yes, they know that. Her response also said they’re looking at it, but the reality is that this response was lacking in the sense that it didn’t seem to have a plan to bring someone in or a long-term plan to solve the solution. The issue comes down to the fact that I’m being contacted again by more constituents saying that this continues to be a very important issue and they’re concerned is the government hearing them. Would the Minister commit to getting an answer and update before the end of this sitting so if there are problems, we can deal with them in a timely way before session ends? We usually get better answers to our questions while we’re in the House than outside.
To be fair and just going by my recollection, I believe what we were working on was to have some of our local people trained so that we could create more of a human resource pool for that office. I believe the starting time for that training program was this fall. I don’t have the most recent updates, so I’m willing to look into that. I believe our response last time was more than we know about that. I think it was more precise on our action plan. I will get back to the Member.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The time for question period has expired; however, I will allow the Member a supplementary question. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This is a very important issue for many people who have hearing loss. It’s difficult for some people who have hearing loss to finally admit it, let alone deal with it. It is a significant challenge in families and I’m well aware of some families out there that struggle trying to communicate with each other in the way of dealing with this particular issue. The important thing is, will the Minister respond to this issue with a plan of action to show how the department is going to deal with this particular issue and showing the resources that can be committed to this problem with some time frames on how we plan to do this on the short term, again back to a long-term solution?
As I stated, I will get back to the Member with the details.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act. This bill amends the Liquor Act to allow for an inspector or peace officer to seize and remove anything referred to in a warrant for the search of a dwelling house. A public hearing and clause-by-clause review was held on October 28, 2010. The committee wishes to report that Bill 12 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Report of the Supplementary Health Benefits Joint Working Group.
