The Tribune

THE Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union has joined forces with several law enforcement associations to protest a new health insurance scheme.

And according to Sloan Smith, vice-president of the BCIAWU, the group will do whatever it takes to have the new scheme – which they claim reduces coverage to the point where medical care becomes cost prohibitive – revoked.

“Politicians come and go, but the medical issues we have to confront with our families, they remain, they are everyday occurrences, and our pockets cannot withstand this onslaught,” Mr Smith said at a press conference yesterday.

“It cuts to the core of human dignity when a man who is working hard for the government, for his country, is unable to go the medical practitioner of his choice, to ensure that he and his family get good medical coverage.”

Mr Smith said the union has polled its members in both Nassau and Grand Bahama, and has overwhelming support to seek a strike vote.

He said they will hold meetings with members in the Family Islands before moving forward.

The union has already filed a trade dispute asking that the government revert to the previous coverage.

Last month, the BCIAWU wrote to Prime Minister Perry Christie, Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell and Labour Minister Shane Gibson, but got no response.

At the time, Mr Smith said: “We discovered that a lot of things have changed and not for the better (but) to the extent that the Employment Act of 2001 has been abused in this case. They (the government) know the law, they are the custodians of the law and they are breaking the law. We have a problem with that. And we will follow this through to its conclusion.

“The problem is when you look at co-payments, deductibles and out of pocket maximums those occur daily. We don’t lessen what may happen to an officer in the line of duty, but it’s only going to be a handful of those persons that it will happen to... but the every day occurrence of my family member, your family member who is sick and has to see a doctor?”