I would like to follow up with the Minister of Health if I could briefly and ask, will the consultation include information on what the size of the different cohorts are in terms of the different thresholds? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The document that the department will prepare as a point of start for discussion will include such information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. Mr. Speaker, will it include what the character of those cohorts are? By that, I mean holistically what are their roles in the community and the community’s well-being? Will there be an assessment of that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to ask the Member to re-ask that question because I am not sure if I understand it.
Yes, for clarification, obviously a new policy like this can have different affects on different cohorts depending on their ability to pay and depending on the role they play in our community. For example, let’s take the seniors. These are a cohort of people who have incredible expertise and experience, and often time and energy and willingness to contribute to the community. So when we have impacts on them, obviously it’s going to roll through the whole community and Territory. So I am looking for a commitment. Will the Minister commit to providing that sort of assessments for each of those cohorts? Thank you.
To be honest, I am not sure if that would be part of…That might be going outside of the work the Department of Health and Social Services would do in terms of addressing some of the major concerns that were brought up about the supplementary health benefit changes. Having said that, I do acknowledge that within the course of the last six or seven weeks since the policy changes were announced, we have heard lots of stories and background situations that does make us think about it and put it into context in thinking about how these changes will affect our population. So in general terms, I will make the commitment to make sure that that is part of that. So that would be my response to that question.
Again, thank you to the Minister for those comments. Yes, obviously there are different levels of complexity to this whole issue. Fundamentally, though, it can be expressed by if people leave the Territory, and especially talented and contributing members of our society, that is a great cost, so that needs to be considered. So will, finally perhaps, the public consultation also include the presentation of alternative solutions, some options for the public to consider? Thank you.
I think the information session...That is why we are calling it an information session workshop format; because that is what the NWT Seniors’ Society and other NGOs have done before in talking about changes to supplementary health format. In those discussions I think it would be a good opportunity to show the package of programs that we have available for seniors in the North, understanding, for example, we provide an exception for property taxes for seniors, which I don’t think other provinces do, and there are some other programs. We have to look at the attractiveness for seniors to retire here, and we have to remain competitive. So in that way I think that will be part of the discussion. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
