The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE idea of establishing a national lottery to fund National Health Insurance (NHI) could pose an “interesting” conundrum, according to Senator Dr Duane Sands.

He said a key issue with such a proposal is the fact that the majority of voters who took part in the 2013 gambling referendum rejected the idea of establishing a national lottery.

“There isn’t an easy way into that at all,” Dr Sands said, responding to questions from The Tribune.

“The government and Prime Minister (Perry Christie) made a decision to go against the will of the people back in that 2013 referendum/opinion poll debacle. The people haven’t forgotten that. Now to come back and say to them, ‘Yes we know you rejected the idea of a lottery, but (a new lottery) could help pay for the country’s healthcare.’ There is no guarantee that they would accept that.”

After the rejected referendum, the government legalised web shops even though the majority of voters also voted against this in the 2013 poll.

He added: “You have to clarify the legal standing of the number houses, which I don’t think the government has done to date. We need to know how much it could raise and how it would be ran if established.

“Then you also have to flesh out all the aspects of NHI, because all we have now is a bunch of pretty booklets that say we get this and that, and doesn’t explain how anything would work.

“Those are the two biggest obstacles to get across and they have to be addressed. But on the surface of it, a national lottery, in this regard, could prove to be useful. But you will not get me to endorse such a move until all of these moving parts are carefully and transparently ironed out,” he said.

Medical Association of The Bahamas (MAB) President Dr Sy Pierre on Wednesday proposed that the establishment of a national lottery could be a way of funding NHI. He insisted that a national lottery strictly for healthcare could be a good thing.

He also suggested that a tax on tobacco and alcohol products could also be looked at.

The primary care stage of NHI is estimated to cost the government approximately $100m annually and it is proposed that an additional $24m a year will be reserved for coverage of selected high-cost specialised care.

The government has not provided a clear scheme to fund NHI. Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez has estimated that the government spends about $400m annually on healthcare in the country.

Dr Sands himself suggested on Wednesday that the Christie administration was promoting “champagne and caviar” when it could only provide “peanuts and beer” through its NHI scheme.