Thank you, Madam Chair. The medical travel program is complex. Right now, if a patient in the Northwest Territories does not have any insurance or any way to cover their medical transportation, this is something that our department covers. However, if you are an employee of the GNWT and you require some medical travel, then the benefits will come through human resources. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. Under this medical travel benefit, I know that we have contracts. Does that fall under this budget? Just to clarify, for Larga and for Vital Abel and for the different homes, does that fall under this chunk of money? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking to my colleagues. They are nodding "yes," so it does include that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. Just to touch on here, I would like to know, since it falls under here and now that we're sitting under this, there have been a lot of concerns raised with medical travel and some of the places where they have to stay where there is not enough food for some of the residents who I've gotten complaints from, so how do we assess that? Is there an assessment over these places or questionnaires that go out to people so that we know that we are providing enough funding so that, when people are travelling for medical travel, they are meeting the needs of the clients when they are travelling out? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I hear the Member's concern. When we send our patients out, we're sending them to the facilities outside the territories; even within the territories, we have a number of places we use. The Northwest Territories health and social services authorities, they have regular reviews to ensure that the locations or the facilities are meeting the requirements, so we do have the review done. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
No, that's all I have. Thank you.
Are there any additional questions for page 182, supplementary health benefits? Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just have a couple of questions in regard to supplementary health benefits, and I'm just wondering: is there an anticipated review of supplementary health benefits coming in the near future? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Right now, we are looking, and we talked about the reduction in main estimates from prior years because that was one of the recommendations, that we put together a review, so we're doing that now. We have our committee on child and family services, and we are looking at that. That is something that we will bring forward to AOC, and we're planning a time to review that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Would the Minister be able to speak a little to the scope that they have planned for that review and what the anticipated cost of that would be? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a number of things we're looking at within the review, mostly to save costs. If you look at supplementary health benefits and the amount of money we spend on a yearly basis, it is quite high, so it is something that our department is doing a review on so that we can look at if there are some areas that we can improve on cost savings. I mean, we're doing our budget review now, and it's a half a billion dollars. If there are areas where we can have a review done so that we can save some costs, absolutely. This is one of the things that we're doing, and it's in progress. Our plan is to have this tabled by the end of this session. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Does this review solely look at the costs of supplementary health benefits, or does it also take into consideration the cost of preventative care and the long-term effects of actually being able to save money by spending money on people here and being able to ensure that they have access to supplementary health benefits that they ultimately need and that would pay for itself long-term, down the road? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a number of things we're looking at. It's not just costs. When I bring it to AOC, I think there will be that further discussion because we're doing this in stages, and stage one is we are using internal resources to be able to get this started. Then, you know, coming back to AOC and being able to get that feedback so that we can ensure that, when we do this review, it takes into consideration some feedback. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
I'm good. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Any further questions on page 182, supplementary health benefits? Seeing none, I am going to call this page. Supplementary health benefits, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $30,009,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now turn to the information items that begin on page 185. We'll start with funding allocated to health and social services authorities on page 185. Are there any questions on this page? Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What I'm looking at is: can the Minister tell me, for the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services, the $295 million, is that all salaries? Or what is the breakdown of that number? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to turn this one over to Ms. Mathison to provide the details as I shuffle through papers. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Director of finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That is for salaries and operational expenses. It's pretty much an accumulation of all the expenditures throughout the document that we've looked at under grants and contributions that are going to the authorities for all the various programs. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The $295 million is what operations and staffing for our hospitals, health centres, and that all fall under the NTHSSA throughout the Northwest Territories, just to be clear? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct.
Thank you. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. Just looking at the allocation on the information items kind of attached to the active position summary, I'm just trying to figure out, with the position summary and the salaries, is overtime included in that number, or does that come later? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
There is a line item in that $295 million for estimated overtime? Or is that something that is going to come later? Thank you. Just clarifying, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister, can you clarify, please.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. I just never knew that we budgeted overtime. Can you tell me, in the previous year, was there a change in the main estimates? What was the increase from the main estimate to the end of the year that we needed to increase, if there was anything, for overtime, in the cost to the health authorities? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to turn to Ms. Mathison to help me with the question. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Director of finance.
