Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke earlier in my Member’s statement that 2,300 people in the Northwest Territories are without health care coverage today. I want to ask the Minister if she’s, in her government, working on any type of information implementation plan so that they can get health coverage as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my statement yesterday, we will be working hard on a number of fronts as per recommendations of the Supp Health Joint Working Group. That includes encouraging employers to provide employment insurance or employers insurance, encouraging our residents to get private insurance where it’s possible, and to look at some savings through use of generic drugs. The department will be pursuing all those three options, and we will be doing some cost-benefit analysis and looking at ways to see how we can help those who are not without health care coverage or health benefits coverage but are currently without minimal dental or vision care.
I want to ask the Minister about some families and children who are in the working poor who are today, as we speak right now today, in the last couple years do not have basic health care coverage. Again, I hear from the Minister that they’re working hard in this government to see what kind of coverage they can implement, but as each day that we sit here and talk, these families have to deal with this type of issue that they’re not covered like the rest of us are. I want to ask the Minister, can she and her government implement a plan as soon as possible to help those poor families in the Northwest Territories. The number 2,300 rings a bell. Can the Minister tell me when?
I do appreciate the Member’s strong advocacy for the protection and provision of services to the working poor. He’s been a strong advocate throughout this supp health benefits review process and in the last Assembly as well.
Mr. Speaker, we need to work this in a package. We need to address all of these things at the same time, because the Member knows already that our Supp Health Program is already over-expended and we need to find some savings and find ways to help those who are without minimal dental and vision care at the moment. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know that there are some things within the Health department that we certainly can do without in terms of putting some coverage to these people. There are children, there are families in the Northwest Territories, as we speak today, that do not have the basic health coverage that we in this room enjoy in terms of our own coverages. That’s the one I want to ask the Minister. What will it take for her to, by the end of this month or next month, say, yes, we will have coverage for those families who are the working poor, children, who do not have coverage?
Mr. Speaker, I grew up poor. I know what it’s like. That’s who I’m advocating for. What can the Minister do to help us get coverage for these low-income families?
What we need from the Member and this House is continued strong support for the government to implement the recommendations that were made by the Joint Working Group. We’re going to need some really strong fortitude to implement the third-party use and encouraging people to get third-party insurance where they can afford to. We need to find some equity and parity between NIHB programs and Supp Health Programs. We are going to need to be strong to implement some of the changes to the pharmaceutical strategy so that we would encourage the use of generic drugs. All those things will require strong support from this House. We are moving as expeditiously as possible. We want to make some progress by March/April. That’s a very aggressive timeline. We need to do a lot of work on that, and I look forward to continued support from the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of what is preventing her from implementing the use of the non-insured health benefits rules right away for the various supplementary health benefits programs that we have made suggestions to. What’s preventing her from making these changes right away?
The work is underway, so nothing is stopping us from moving forward on this. I made a commitment as per the advice from the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning. I believe we have strong support from the Members on the other side to move forward in finding solutions on the recommendations made on the report. We are committed to working out the plan and implementing it. I will be working closely with standing committee on that. We need to lay out the plan and we are working on that. We are following an aggressive strategy and schedule. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
