Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A Medical Travel Policy gap causing grief for northern families needs resolution. Specifically, problems are arising for those who have children going to school in southern Canada under the Student Financial Assistance program and who fall ill and require hospitalization or treatment. At a time when these kids desperately need them, their parents are unable to access travel support to attend them because the medical travel is not initiated in the Northwest Territories. Yet if these students had fallen ill at home, their own plus an escort’s travel costs would be covered to travel south for treatment.
As an example, take a family whose child is going to school in Alberta and who is suddenly diagnosed with cancer. Alone and away from home, she desperately needs the support of her parents who live in the North. While funding for her mother’s travel is initially approved, the second application for a parent to be with her during the actual surgery is denied with an attempt at clawing back the original support. Far from theoretical, this has actually happened. This family was denied any further medical travel assistance. The reason for denial by Health and Social Services was that only medical travel originating in the NWT is covered. Yet these students are NWT residents fully covered by NWT health care and parental travel originates at home in the NWT.
The issue of needing third-party health insurance when travelling outside of the NWT is a real issue, and I appreciate the profile my colleague Mr. Bouchard has brought to it. But this is not relevant to this policy gap. School students outside the NWT and supported by our SFA are fully covered under our Health Care Plan. If it is relevant at all, SFA should ensure that a group insurance plan is in place for the northern students it funds. Northern students attending school in southern Canada should be treated as if they are residents in the Northwest Territories, and if they are unfortunate enough to require hospitalization or treatment for serious illness, they should be able to expect that a parent can be there to support them in their time of need.
I understand that the seemingly continual review of our Medical Travel Policy is still underway, this time a medical escort policy is underway again. I urge the Minister to close this medical assistance travel policy gap and assure our residents the support they need and deserve, both to ensure proper care and to ensure the interest in remaining as residents.
I will have questions.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
