All right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm excited to ask some questions regarding extended health benefits to the Minister of Health and Social Services just in case she's hoping someone else will take them.
Mr. Speaker, we all know the current Minister sat on the social development committee for four years, Mr. Speaker. And I have no doubt she was a robust Member talking about policy and whatnot and how it affected Northerners. Mr. Speaker, the last Assembly shared its consultation regarding extended health benefits with committee and given the fact that over 700 people of the public wrote in and gave valuable input through the public engagement. So out of the 700 people or more who wrote in or expressed their points of view, how many of them suggested we should reduce health benefits to Northerners? Thank you.
Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the Member for being able to have this conversation. And I was. I was a Member of the Standing Committee on Social Development, and we did make we did have lots of consultations on this. And what we we did reduce the costs. Like, with the changes that we've put in place, there are members of the residents of the Northwest Territories that had no access to any benefits will now be able to fall under the extended health benefits policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, it's the opposite. The people wanted the expansion of the program, not reduction of the program. So therein lies the question, Mr. Speaker. How does the Minister of health explain such an aggressive policy that takes away coverage and forces Northerners to become copays in their own health care? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the extended health benefits policy addresses gaps in some of the NWT residents. Like I mentioned that they did not have services. It's not taking away any benefits from anybody. The policy before, you had to fall under a specific disease. Senior benefits haven't changed. Extended NIHB, like, they all have their own programs. So this is just actually giving access to health care benefits for those residents who never had access before. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I go back to the similar question not the same question because that's against the rules, but I go back to a similar question because the Minister doesn't seem to want to answer the question. She's doing this but literally moving something with the other hand.
Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister explain such a policy that takes away opportunities from Northerners by making them copay? Did anyone say deny coverage from those who weren't covered?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, this is not taking away benefits from anybody who was previously covered. In the previous policy, it was outdated and there were it was put in place where specific diseases and you had to have a specific disease to fall to be able to qualify for the program. Within that program, there was no like, it just it was a blanket so we didn't you know, and so this time what it's doing is people who are applying are going to be you know, if they make above the threshold, there's and that was part of the standing committee, that there's a sliding scale above the income threshold based on cost of living within the territories. That was a recommendation from the standing committee. That's being put into place in this policy.
Mr. Speaker, as for the four you know, for the prescription cost, that is if the person is making over, they're going to you know, if depending on how much their monthly costs for their medication is, then they may have to go at 4 percent. But if you're like, and the questions that I've asked even when we were doing this, and this was part of standing committee, if I'm we know that we may have adult children who live at home because affordability, and a household with parents, maybe they don't qualify for any benefits. It's not the people that they live with is not going to impact their threshold. So if they're going to school and they need access to health care and they don't fall within any of those other programs, they will be able to apply and qualify whereas before they wouldn't have had any access to dental service, any access to any pharmaceuticals, any access to supplies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister for Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Goodness, that was the longest response, Mr. Speaker. But thank you for the detail, and I'm sure Northerners appreciate it.
Mr. Speaker, my last question is this: When consultation went out and asked people their thoughts on the health benefits, Mr. Speaker, it did not present a policy change. So people didn't know, I guess, in some ways what they were agreeing with or knowing what they were going to get. Mr. Speaker, therein lies part of the problem and there is the question, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be willing to send the policy to the social development committee so they can have a look at it? Because we're about expanding benefits, not taking them away or making people pay because it just doesn't work, and it's not fair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will not hold up this policy any longer. The changes will be implemented on September 1st. You know, we will be monitoring the program and, you know, if there are people that are impacted, you know, with the changes that are made, I would suggest them come back. You know, there is appeal process going to be you know, within it and so that's you know, we can look at each case by case once the program rolls out September 1st. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
