Thank you. I, too, would like to say welcome back to all Members of this House. It’s good to be back.

I’m going to speak today about a contentious issue; one dear to the hearts of those assembled in the gallery and dear to us on this side of the House as well. I refer to the proposed changes to the NWT Supplementary Health Benefits Program.

I can’t say it often enough or loudly enough. This program has been poorly thought out, poorly presented and is based on a poor policy. Cabinet had lofty goals and, I hope, good intentions when they decided to go forward with this new program and policy. We should be providing health benefits to those who currently are left unprotected. I agree with that premise, but Cabinet didn’t do their homework.

By using this policy change to fix one problem, that of a lack of health coverage for lower income workers and their families, they effectively created a bunch of new problems. Some examples: some disabled persons and people with families dealing with chronic conditions now face huge medical costs. Some of our residents aged 60 to 64 suddenly have no coverage at all. Our seniors, many on a fixed income, face a means test to determine if they will be able to continue to receive coverage.

This program is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start to identify the wrongs. The means test tables show income levels which are unworkable because they’re too low and require a health department expert to understand them. The Catastrophic Drug Program covers all drug costs except, oh right, you have to spend 5 percent of your income first before the program kicks in.

This policy change will cost people money. For many it’s money they don’t have. How does that fit with this Assembly’s stated objective to reduce the cost of living for our residents? It doesn’t. How does it fit with Cabinet’s goal to increase the population of the NWT in order to increase our revenues? It

doesn’t. This proposed new Supplementary Health Benefits Program will drive our residents out of the Territory and I, for one, do not want that.

I recently heard someone say that we have a government without a conscience when it comes to the implementation of this program. I can only agree and will have questions for the Minister of Health at the appropriate time.