Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Human Resources. I wanted to follow up on my questioning of last week around fertility treatments and subsequent benefit payments. So can the Minister speak to whether or not fertility treatments of any sort are covered by the GNWT's employee benefits plan? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, our benefits plan is that of the public service, and we really don't determine the benefits. We rely on what is covered for by them as the insurer. At this point, Madam Speaker, it is my understanding that that is not a coverage that is within that plan. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I do appreciate that that's the current situation, but given the number of emails that I've received since I spoke about this topic last week, there does definitely seem to be an interest and a need amongst members of the GNWT. So could the Minister speak to whether or not she's been approached about including fertility treatments in the benefits package. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, no, I can't say that I have been directly requested to look into this other than, of course, here on the floor of the House. And certainly in that regard I'm live to the fact that it's an issue. But, again, it would not necessarily be something that we would direct. It would be a matter that we'd be looking at alongside the insurer. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I did some rough calculation or number crunching there around how this actually would benefit the territory from a population growth perspective, can the Minister commit to looking at the numbers and seeing whether or not the cost benefit analysis does show that providing fertility treatments in the Northwest Territories would actually be good for our bottom line? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I certainly do keep in mind that growing a population is a significant benefit with respect to the territorial formula of financing. I'm not sure I'm going to take the tabletop math necessarily right now and make policy on that, but I'll certainly go back and see if the department wants to speak to, you know I know there was a motion that has previously been on this floor about looking at population numbers, whether including infertility treatments in the benefit plans for public servants is going to get us there. Again, Madam Speaker, I'm not sure I'll be in a position to respond to a policy request on that basis alone but can see if there's any other information on might be happening at the national level with the benefits plan that is used by us for public service. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I will state that even a partial benefit to allow for either subsidy of the IVF treatment itself or the benefit the medical travel benefits or the per diems, any little bit would help. I've recently been contacted by people where it's $20,000, and both partners have underlying conditions. They're looking at 60 to $70,000 in order to have a baby likely. So more of a comment. If the Minister wants to respond, that's fine. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we are live to the cost. There's a lot of different potential treatments that people may find very costly, things that are deemed as nonessential or elective that may not be covered through healthcare and may not be covered through GNWT public service insurance or any other private benefits insurance of which many companies do offer that. So, you know, again, that is part of the process of evolving, what we look at in terms of our benefits. At the moment, Madam Speaker, it is not included. Again, we do keep an eye on what's happening nationally. We keep an eye in contact with our insurer to ensure that we remain competitive in that space. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
