Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. After quite a lot of advocacy work done in BC province, on March 14, 2013, the BC Premier and her government amended what is referred to as their Medicare Protection Act, which now allowed for the coordinating of regulations to formalize the extension of out-of-country stays, from six months to seven months.
Once those regulations will come into effect, what this means is residents in that province will be permitted to spend up to seven months outside of their province and still maintain their health care coverage.
Keeping our seniors in the North and those who wish to enjoy the fruits of their labour means we have to offer the same level of commitments many other provinces are offering.
For my first question: Is the Minister of Social Services prepared to consider similar provincial regulation changes to formalize an extension of health coverage for out-of-province stays, from six to seven months?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department would be prepared to look at other jurisdictions to see what all the jurisdictions across the country are doing in as far as coverage and the extent of which the person can be a resident in another part of the country or another part of the world. We would be prepared to look at that and to look at the cost of that.
No further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
