SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Public reactions at meetings on the changes to the NWT supplementary health benefits program have ranged from complete apathy to near revolt.

In Inuvik only one person attended a government consultation on the topic while Hay River's public meeting attracted 60 people whose responses demonstrated concern that increased costs would drive them out of the territory. Yellowknife's citizens, however, expressed outrage and were expressive in their anger during a consultation held in the capital last week.

More than 120 people, mostly seniors, packed into the Northern United Place auditorium for a four-hour-long meeting. The resounding chorus was criticism from people who said they would be negatively affected by proposed changes to the extended health benefits program.

The Department of Health and Social Services wants to change the existing extended health benefits plan for non-aboriginal Northerners, which now only covers seniors, people with specified conditions and people on income support. The department is proposing shifting to an income-based system where everyone, regardless of age, would be covered for all health benefits, including prescriptions, medical equipment and limited eye care and dental coverage, up until a certain income level. People making more than $30,000 or $50,000 would have to pay a portion of the cost, depending how many children they have.

"Call it a co-payment. We know it's a tax. It's a tax on the sick and elderly. Disgusting," said David Wind, making a presentation on behalf of the Yellowknife Seniors Society.

He wants the territorial government to consider offering non-aboriginal Northerners the same type of coverage Metis people receive, without resorting to a co-payment model and instead funding the program through taxes.

Dana Heide, assistant deputy minister of Health and Social Services, made an hour-long presentation - at times facing jeers from the crowd - and fielded questions during the sometimes tense debate.

Some disparaged the consultation process, saying the department was rushing into implementing a program without incorporating people's feedback into their plan.

Several people who rely on the existing program to pay for specified conditions said they were worried they couldn't shoulder a percentage of the cost. Some said paying a portion of their prescriptions and medical equipment would amount to hundreds of dollars or more per month, enough to strain even a middle-class income.

Sharon Oldford brought her son, Riley, 5, who qualifies for extended health benefits because he has cerebral palsy and chronic lung disease.

"It's important that there's a face to the choice that you make," she told representatives of the health department. "If you put a dollar figure on the quality of life of a child, of an adult, anyone one of us - anyone of you - could be in a position, five years from now, 10 years from now, that you could need those extended health care benefits."

Oldford said when extended health benefits are a necessity of life, they should be available to everyone

Arlene Hache, executive director of the Centre for Northern Families, was one of the few people to express support for the program.

Speaking on behalf of the people who "don't get their teeth fixed, don't get glasses, don't get their drugs," she said, "Under the current system, tons of people are disadvantaged," she said. "This is the first time I would applaud the government, I would applaud Sandy Lee, for however they may do it, trying to make a fair system."

But even Hache had reservations. She called the proposal a "good possibility" but said she wanted a catastrophic drug program.

In an interview Thursday morning, Lee, who did not attend the public meeting, said she had listened to the debates and would take all the concerns people raised into perspective.

She said it was normal practice for ministers not to attend public consultation meetings but said given the debate, she was considering a catastrophic drug plan for exceptionally expensive drugs, separate from the income cut-offs.

In response to criticism that the new plan was the same as the one she put forward last winter, which was scrapped due to public outcry, Lee said the new proposal offered an appeal process and more graduated income cutoffs to give people better coverage.

"There is a group of working poor who are falling through the cracks. They're not covered. They make too much money to be covered by income security," she said.

Lee said income, not family size or health conditions was "the most objective way to say this is your ability to pay."

She said the reality in Canada is that there isn't universal coverage for extended health benefits and many governments are struggling to pay for them.

"Our proposal is still better than many others because it's available to everybody, and it leaves no one behind," she said.

Though Heide conceded Wednesday night that the department was on a "pretty ridiculous timeline," Lee said though the "program is not ready for implementation," they're still on track to bring a proposal to the legislative assembly in one month's time.