Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much to our witnesses from Canada Life for being here today.
I'll open by saying the same thing I said to your governmental counterparts. As you indicated, this is a serious issue that has had a significant impact on public servants who have served Canada, and their families.
I want to provide a couple more stories that we have seen in the media that testify about the difficult time these families have been through.
The first one is from Sabrina Hoque.
Aydan Clark, age three, “was diagnosed with global developmental delay when he was three months old. He receives weekly speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. With a $1,500 cap on physiotherapy, his parents aren't sure they'll be able to provide him the care he needs.”
'I'm determined I'm not going to change his...plan,' his mother told the CBC. 'It's a stress and it's very frustrating.'
[She] spends about $400 per month for regular physiotherapy, plus another $1,650 for intensive physiotherapy every four months.
'So far, knock on wood, within [the] three years, there has been no regression and that's because we've kept a steady pace. We've been very determined. We've been on the ball with making sure that he gets weekly physiotherapy sessions',
But she said the physiotherapy cap has had a dramatic effect on the family's lives.
'We're left hung to dry,' she said.
'We're hitting a wall already with the nonexistent customer service. When we push through that wall...we connect with someone, to [then] be hit with another wall where there's no exception for families who are dealing with lifelong challenges.'
This one is from Allison Abraham:
[She has not] been able to submit her medication for Crohn's disease through Canada Life and she worries the drug company will stop paying for it because she's supposed to have medical insurance.
'When the government switched to Canada Life, we were promised seamless transfer of insurance. It has been nothing but a pain though. One of my life saving drugs...is about $20,000 per injection, which I get every eight weeks. Without this drug, I would be bedridden and dying. Unfortunately, since the insurance switch, I do not have coverage. I have spent countless hours calling to make sure my coverage is active, but still can't process anything via their website or at the pharmacy. Thankfully, [they have] offered me temporary relief in order to get me my medication. It is infuriating that I am having to rely on a service that people who actually don't have coverage use, because my insurance provider can't get it together. I fear every time I order my medication that this will be the last time that it is covered.'
My first question for Canada Life is, did you have a discussion as to the resource requirements with the government prior to the July 1 implementation?