Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When an individual travels as a medical escort with a patient, there’s an expectation that they will stay with that particular person. We do know that we have people going out for really long periods of time and we actually have a policy that says after 21 days escorts can swap out and we cover those costs. However, if an escort wants to leave before the designated swap-out person, they are technically on the hook for recovering the costs.

Now, we do recognize that the situation the Member is describing has happened and can happen. So, we do have an extenuating circumstances policy in place that says if you go and something happens, like the patient’s stay is extended and it adversely affects the escort, we can work with them to make sure tha

t they wouldn’t

necessarily have to pay back. But if they choose and there are no extenuating circumstances, they’re on the hook. Thank you.