Thank you. My thought is that we will be able to get a better sense of this when this fiscal year ends, and we will have a year's worth of data. We know that there have been some successes as you have mentioned, but we also know that the digital divide is pretty deep in the NWT. It'll be interesting to see how all of that works out. It is a very expensive program. Of course, NIHB pays for Indigenous and related people. The GNWT pays for everyone else, and the cost there is $45 million. If there were ways to make that cost come down, I think we'd all be doing the happy dance.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just wondering with the medical travel line item, is the department adapting for people who would choose to drive now out of the territory versus flying because they may feel more comfortable? Myself, I have upcoming medical travel in April, and I would prefer to drive. Am I going to be able to recoup any of the gas costs to do so? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
That's an interesting budget question. I'm going to ask the assistant deputy minister to provide an answer. Thank you.
Thank you. Assistant Deputy Minister Elkin.
Thank you. Yes, under our current medical travel program, clients do have the option of flying or driving depending on their circumstance, and there are coverage rates for mileage and/or for the flight. There are limits. For example, if you choose to drive, your coverage will be up to the amounts of what it would have cost if you had flown, but people do have the option. We haven't done any analysis, but certainly, that would be the trend and change since COVID, yes.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I had heard from a few constituents, particularly older constituents, who then chose to make it kind of a weekend down with the spouse or something as they were going to have to self-isolate together anyways. I'm really glad to hear that, and probably should have done a little bit more of my own homework before I asked that question. Again, I'm assuming that you had said that the numbers are going up this year for both the Extended Health Benefits and the medical travel benefits. However, there seems to always be quite a range. Is this due to just it's difficult, again, to predict these numbers as was some of the explanation we heard the other day? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Could you please ask Mr. Elkin?
Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. Yes. When it comes to forecasting, as you know, the main estimates are done almost a year ahead of when we are -- we're reviewing them right now, so we're basing it under information at the time. It is a best guess based on trends, and as the Minister said before, we would be looking at what are the impacts with COVID and will there be a change going forward. This is based on the information we did probably last summer, last spring. This is a forecast based on the previous number of years of trends.
Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can maybe the department comment a little bit on whether they do think it's going to go up or down? I'm just probably assuming healthcare costs always go up, but do they have any sort of idea which way they think it's going? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to refer this question to Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. Again, they have been trending up just based on the five-year average of number of clients and just the cost of the airfare. Again, the unknown will be what will be, going forward, the impacts of post-COVID, whether it's through the cost of airfare during recovery or with the impact of the change program if we start using more virtual care. Those are things we're going to have to monitor over the next year or so.
Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The cost of the flights for people to Edmonton, did they change over the year due to COVID, or were they already set in place for the upcoming year? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to refer the question to Mr. Elkin.
Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. The airfare travel rates are set through a standing offer agreement, both for medical travel as well as the GNWT travel, as well. Those are set for the period, so they won't change. They haven't changed during COVID because they were through an SOA, standing offer agreement, with the airlines.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What is the amount of time left on the standing offer agreement, and are there provisions in it for them to raise the prices given that their operating costs have skyrocketed due to COVID? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is another question for Mr. Elkin. Thank you.
Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. There was a new standing offer agreement government-wide in December of 2020. I don't have the information on how long. They're usually on an annual basis. Presumably, because it was December, it did factor in some of the costs that they're currently incurring. Again, I don't have that detail, but that's the latest SOA.
Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe the department could provide that SOA to us, to the standing committee, and maybe the one from before, just so we can see how those rates have increased? I would imagine that they would have to in order to continue to be able to run. I think at this time, I don't have any further questions, Madam Chair. Thanks.
Thank you. Minister, the Member asked for a commitment.
I'm not clear whether we can make this commitment or not, so I will ask Mr. Elkin to answer the question. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Elkin.
Thank you. The SOAs are issued and managed through the Department of Finance through procurement shared services, so we would follow up with the Department of Finance to see. They aren't done by the department of health.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Any further questions?
No. It's my understanding that SOAs are public, in the public domain, so I will look forward to following up with the Department of Finance. Thank you.
Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I am going to stick with medical travel on the heels of my colleague from Great Slave. One of the things we've been hearing lately is that, because a lot of our medical travel people travel to Alberta, that Alberta is actually saying to people that they must isolate in Alberta before returning to Yellowknife where they then isolate again in some cases. I'm wondering if the Minister can confirm if that is still happening for medical travel patients or not? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
What I want to confirm is: is this a budget question? Is there a cost involved that the Member is seeking?
Member.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes, it is a budget question because there is a cost to having to self-isolate in Edmonton afterwards, and my next question is going to be: who pays for it? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. I will refer that question to the deputy minister.
Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am actually going to have to pass it to the assistant deputy minister.
Mr. Elkin.
