Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the contributions to boards of management, health insurance services, the funding here has almost tripled in two years from the 1999-2000 actuals to what is proposed in the 2001-2002 Main Estimates. I am wondering if we could get the Minister to comment on the reason for that dramatic growth.

Mr. Chairman, actually I am referring to page 6-15, the detail of which shows on page 6-17.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Contained in grants and contributions on page 6-15 is contributions to boards of management, health insurance services, and my question is, there is $16,725,000 there right now in the 2001-2002 budget, but the amount that was expended in 1999-2000 was only $5.8 million. There has been a growth of almost...it has almost tripled in size. I just wanted to hear from the Minister the reasons for that growth.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, stabilizing physicians that operate from Yellowknife and provide services to outlying communities and provide territorial hospital services through Stanton resulted in a $2.8 million increase. Incremental funds will be used to increase the number of physicians as well. There was a severe shortage, and this was not reflected in prior budgets. Increased costs for operating clinics due to increases related to the pay fields, which they have to be paid on now under the Public Service Act, and there were also increased administrative costs, as there is now a need to manage and coordinate four clinics, and former owners focus their services now on patient care as opposed to administration.

Also, there was over $7 million transferred from the other expenses category to the grants and contributions category to reflect the takeover of physician clinics and the change in payment method through the boards. That should hopefully explain why that dramatic increase is showing up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That has answered my question.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask a question about medical travel and how it relates to supplemental health. I have had a couple of concerns with constituents calling me who had to go south for testing for things like MRIs and other tests. The Department of Health covers the cost of the testing, but not the cost to these folks for all of their travel. They are required to pay a $250 co-payment, I think it is called, also accommodation, meals, ground transportation. Sometimes people are able to stay at Larga boarding homes in Edmonton, but this is only the case if there is room.

These are people who are not covered by NIHB or the Metis health benefit, and typically do not work for a company big enough to have its own insurance plan, quite often people working for small businesses. I wonder if the Minister can talk about how these people seem to slip through the cracks and specifically wonder if she has looked at getting rid of the $250 co-payment for travel? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am very aware of this particular group of our population that does not qualify for full coverage, either through employee insurance programs or various other types of coverage that are available to people. The co-payment affects just a certain portion of people, mostly people who are employed by the small business private sector. I have asked the department to look into the whole issue of the co-payment for medical travel. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At first glance, it might seem that this does not affect many people in the North and it also may not be that expensive, but if you consider that the extended health benefits will cover the full costs of testing for these folks if they are in fact diagnosed with a condition which is listed under the specified disease conditions, quite often it can take a few trips and even up to a few years to correctly diagnose something.

My question is if they have a valid medical referral and we cannot do the testing here, do we really have to wait for a diagnosis in the south in Edmonton that fits this list before we are willing to cover this? Clearly it is not frivolous if they have been referred by a physician. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do you have to be on income support in order to access or in order to not pay the co-payment? Is that the standard? Thank you.