Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 182, extended health care, there's a reduction of $350,000. Could the Minister explain the rationale for the reduction in this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'll go to the deputy for the detail on the changes to the Metis health benefits.

Thank you, Ms. DeLancey. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it's my fault, I sent us on the wrong rabbit hole here. It was the extended health benefits, and that's the $350,000 reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. DeLancey.

Thank you. Ms. DeLancey. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for her answer. It wasn't your hearing; it was me on a different track there, so I apologize for that.

So my next question is medical travel. I notice it's an increase of $379,000. Is this a forced growth or is this what we're expecting, unexpected costs coming up that we're not aware of? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's forced growth, but for any more detail I will go to the deputy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Deputy Minister DeLancey.

Thank you, Ms. DeLancey. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank Ms. DeLancey for her answer. I have no further questions on this page. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Next we have Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at page 182, extended health benefits, these are benefits for people over the age of 60. The NWT basically provides them with healthcare. There are people who don't have government healthcare plans, you know, people who worked in private industry who had private healthcare plans, who paid their $75-$100 a month and had healthcare. When you turn 60 in the territory, though, there's not much of an incentive to keep paying that $100 a month. It seems like if we could somehow encourage those people to hold on to that through a tax break or something the GNWT might save quite a bit of money on health insurance. Has this been a topic of discussion for the department at all? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a good point and it's certainly something we should be exploring. We don't require that they keep it, but we require them to utilize it first if they have it. So if they have insurance, they utilize it first before they access extended health benefits.

I remember a number of years ago there was some work around this that didn't make it too far, but I take the Member's point that we need to do something to encourage people to keep their insurances for as long as possible, if not forever, to help us offset some of these incredibly high costs of this benefit that is provided in the territories and virtually nowhere else in this country. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's good to hear that the Minister thinks that they should be doing that. Will the department do that? Will the department look into that? Has there been any analysis of any potential cost savings? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.