Thank you.
Currently, because the super visa requires the private health insurance to be provided by a Canadian provider, the integrity is ensured essentially by the fact that these insurance providers are regulated within the Canadian system. We know them, we know that they're regulated and that we can trust them.
Should we consider foreign insurance providers the way that this bill does, we would really have to come up with a designation system that takes into account new criteria that the department doesn't currently have the expertise to develop. We would have to work with provinces, territories and health experts to determine what those criteria are. Are they around the solvency of companies? Are they around the compliance with laws and regulations abroad? What are the modalities of payments, including criteria around having payments at point of service to protect clients, for example?
Of course, we would have to ensure that any designation scheme has ongoing monitoring to ensure that clients continue to be protected by anyone who's designated.
It's a complex issue that would just need to be really looked into in consultation with experts in the field and provinces and territories.