The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

UNTIL the government fixes all of the “problems, issues and challenges” at the Princess Margaret Hospital, the Christie administration’s proposed National Health Insurance plan will fail, said FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

The Killarney MP told The Tribune that he agrees with NHI in principle and believes that every Bahamian deserves access to heath care. However, he said NHI would cause an additional tax to be put upon “an already stressed nation”.

He said NHI would only compound the litany of problems plaguing PMH if the government does not fix them before the proposed January implementation date.

“NHI is an additional tax to the people already burdened by VAT. Unemployment continues to rise and people cannot afford to buy groceries, or (pay) their light bill or rent and they want to put another tax on the people? Furthermore, NHI cannot work at this time. It will not work unless all the issues and challenges at Princess Margaret Hospital are addressed,” he said.

“They have infrastructural problems, the waiting time in the emergency room is too long, the wait time for surgeries is ridiculous, the technology needs to be advanced, they need electronic medical records, the administrative side needs to be addressed and so much more,” he added.

“Are they implementing the recommendations that were made during the last audit? These problems will not be corrected, but will be compounded by NHI. The emergency room sees 60,000 patients a year, but 15 per cent of those patients are not seen by a doctor. They get frustrated and leave and when they come back their illness is worse or they are dead. NHI will not fix these issues.”

Dr Minnis said the government should start smaller and build upon the National Prescription Drug Plan created by the Ingraham administration before rolling out NHI.

“There are 24,000 plus persons participating in a drug plan and receive their medication from the private sector. If they allow those individuals to be seen by private doctors and properly regulate it, then it will allow them additional time to correct the problems they need to address. But even if the government does all of this, Bahamians have lost all faith in them and would not trust them to carry out NHI properly.”

The government has proposed a January 1, 2016 implementation date for National Heath Insurance. Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez has said officials will not reveal the details of the first phase of the scheme until the 2015/2016 budgets has been presented in the House of Assembly.

Following this, Dr Gomez said the government “will move forward with gusto” to ensure Bahamians are well informed of the scheme’s details.

On Friday, the chair of the Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA) said NHI could potentially cost almost $1 billion to implement, adding that a botched rollout of the scheme could result in “serious repercussions and consequences for the industry”.

Emmanuel Komolafe, also chair of the Insurance Advisory Committee, said NHI could cost between $895m and $965m to implement, based on studies conducted by the BIA. However, he said “an industry that we have actually built for years, decades, overnight become a shadow of its old self easily” if NHI is not implemented properly.

Mr Komolafe also said the government’s proposed implementation date is “not realistic”.

He agrees that a new tax will likely be needed to fund the scheme, but questioned if it is wise to do so a year after value added tax implementation.

“Every country that has implemented National Health Insurance or some type of Universal Health Coverage has had to tax, because it’s not cheap,” Mr Komolafe said. “The costs of health care continue to go up. However, how much can you tax? The government has to make the determination on how much it taxes its people.”

“It’s not unusual generally to actually impose taxes,” he added. “The question I think from the general populace is, is the timing right after VAT, meaning another tax? And can you look at other means where it doesn’t put too much burden on the public in terms of taxes? But ultimately the government has to make that decision.”

According to a report done last year by Costa Rican consulting firm Sanigest Internacional, NHI could cost as much as $633 million if implemented as a comprehensive package.