Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The decrease in that area is as a result of some of the corrections that we were trying to do earlier in the life of this government. There was a suggestion, or rather a direction, to modify some of our co-payments and save some or collect some more revenues in this particular area. This decrease basically represents that change of $2.4 million.

I will note, however, Mr. Chair, that line doesn't show some of the money we're getting from the federal government, $5 million to support medical travel, as well.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to be 100 percent clear, what is not really $3 million but $2.4 million is a decrease in the medical travel is co-payments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Abernethy.

Mr. Chair, originally that's how we were hoping to obtain the $2.4 million in savings. We have done some more analysis; we have done some more digging. We wanted to make sure that we didn't adversely affect many of our residents. Most of the co-pay comes from insurance providers and others, so we've done some tweaking around that. I'm in the process of trying to finalize that work now. I met with committee a number of months ago, where we showed some scenarios. We've taken feedback from committee to make some changes to what we were proposing. We're very close to being ready to come back to committee on that. It doesn't change the $2.4 million, but it changes how that will be realized. I'll be coming to committee shortly, once we've finalized a few more little pieces. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On extended health benefits there is an increase of, I guess, $1.8 million. I'm wondering if that's an increase in the number of people now eligible for extended health, or an increase in the benefit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Extended health benefits have not changed, as far as what is provided. It is still consistent with what is provided through NIHB. This is demand-driven.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have, thank you.

Any further questions from committee? Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also had questions about the medical travel amount. I heard the Minister say that he is "tweaking," finalizing, and he will be coming back to the committee, but my question is: what portion of this $2.4 million will come from individuals, versus the amount that will come from insurance companies? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When I met with committee, this was an area of concern. The input I feel I received from committee was, if we're going to be moving forward, we need to reduce the impact on those low-income families who don't have an insurance provider and who may have to come out of pocket for co-payments. That's the work we're doing right now. It's a small number of individuals, and we're just, like I said, doing the final little bit of work on that to make sure that our numbers are solid. I'd hate to quote a number and then present to committee in the coming weeks and have that number be different because we're still trying to finalize it, but it's down from what was presented to committee previously.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's based on a threshold, an income threshold, and we're looking to increase that threshold. We're also looking at having different tiers for a threshold for families as opposed to a threshold for individuals. Some individuals will still have to pay the co-payment, but with the threshold changes we're looking to minimize the number of individuals who may have to pay a co-pay who don't have insurance to help them.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you. It sounds like a cost of living increase for people who are paying the co-pays for medical travel. Is there any reason to think it isn't? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Without question, Mr. Chair, some individuals will notice a slight increase in their co-payment. Like I said, following the suggestions from committee, we're trying to reduce the number of individuals who are impacted. We are modifying the thresholds. We are changing and including different thresholds to help us ensure that we don't affect too many of our people. We've also been contemplating some other mechanisms to help support those individuals, but until such time as we get a bit more of that work done, and I anticipate it will be very shortly, we are just trying to verify some things before we bring it back to committee so that we are coming back with a full picture, but yes, it will affect the cost of living for a small number of individuals in this territory.