Robert Hawkins

I guess I’ll have to spell it out a little slower so that the Minister picks it up this time. A predetermined process does not start out with an automatic implementation date. It has a closing, a consultation date, and allows the consultation discussion to drive the implementation date. The last point on this issue is when you tell people what income level it should start at, it tells me that the department has already decided that income testing is going to be a factor. It doesn’t say should it be, period, no questions asked.

What has this mysterious group that exists out there, what has this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize two very wise and certainly well-travelled Northerners. We have Mr. Ed Jeske and Mr. Mike Krutko, both constituents of Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, we charge WCB for cost and injuries, so why don’t we consider that? Mr. Speaker, we send people out to Nunavut and don’t get paid for the contracts. We know that for a fact. Mr. Speaker, we spend at least $200 a minute in health care in our Northwest Territories, and the reality is…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I was raising issue with what I define as a poor usage of health care dollars, and I certainly hope it’s not a fact that people don’t care about the usage of health care dollars. But, Mr. Speaker, the management and the organization of these health care dollars seems to be a bit of a challenging question here.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what has she done from the point of view of the context of waste busters to ensure that we’re getting the best value for our health care dollars...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue I’m going to raise today is the management of health care dollars in our system. Recently I raised an issue with the way the Department of Health and Social Services is not billing the appropriate customers and that’s the insurance companies. I raise the issue particularly about the fact that insurance companies are getting away with what I would define as a scandal. They are allowing the public health care dollars to pay for services that their clients are already paying for. In other words, we’re subsidizing the insurance companies. This applies to federal...

If we were talking about Rio Tinto or BHP, they have staff dedicated specifically to look at resources and how the system is being done to make sure they can do them in an efficient way. What proof does the Minister have that she can lay before this House that the Department of Health and Social Services examines the way it does business on a regular basis to ensure that we’re getting the best value for our dollars?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particular issue I keep trying to raise here is linking the reduction of services to poor management. I’d ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what work is done from a waste buster point of view. With a department that has a budget of $326 million, do they have any staff or personnel dedicated to finding wasted resources within their organization?

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure how the Health Minister can keep saying that there aren’t changes coming to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program when there are changes. What are we evaluating then? It doesn’t make sense. How can the Minister keep saying that there aren’t changes coming without it being reflected on the costs of the system? I’d like to understand that from the Minister’s point of view. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to the Minister of Health’s answers really closely and I think what she represents is the exact reason why people hate politicians. Because when you move something around, it’s called a change; and when you reduce something, it’s called a reduction. So, Mr. Speaker, that frustration is articulated out there by playing with semantics. So I’d like to ask the Minister again -- perhaps another way we’ll get the answer -- what work and analysis is done by the Department of Health and Social Services to make sure that they’re collecting all the fees and...

The reality is we’re making doctors manage. Why aren’t we looking at those issues to save money in our system rather than cutting away at supplementary health benefits?