The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government is considering rolling out its National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme in a three-phase process that will ultimately create a package costing more than $600 million annually, the Prime Minister said yesterday.

Reiterating his government’s determination to press forward with the plan, Perry Christie said there was “no question” as to whether it would introduce NHI - only how it would do it.

Speaking at Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) seminar, Mr Christie said: “It’s not a question of whether we should. We have three options. Stage I is about $350-$360 million. Stage II will take us to just over $500 million, and Stage III is  about just over $600 million.

“We have analysed it, and whatever we end up doing, whether it’s Stage I and then two to three years to Stage II, and two to three years  to stage III…”

His comments indicate that the Government is sensitive to concerns about NHI’s economic impact, and whether implementing it in ‘one shot’ will be too much for the private sector and public healthcare system to bear.

It suggests that the implementation method has yet to be decided, and there is still some flexibility.

NHI was first developed as a policy priority under the first Christie administration. A 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission was appointed to review the plan’s feasibility.

The National Health Insurance Act 2006 was passed in Parliament by the Government on November 2006. It is now moving towards the ‘full implementation’ of the NHI scheme, having appointed a 12-member steering committee to oversee this.

The main concerns, now as then, are the likely cost burden an NHI scheme would impose on the Bahamian economy and business community, and who will pay for it.

Mr Christie said yesterday that the Government was preparing to launch the tender process that will lead to liberalisation of the cellular market.

“It’s  an extraordinary process, which I have purposefully taken a very strong political decision on, that Bahamians must own at least 51 per cent, and that whoever wants to offer will have to offer in that way,” the Prime Minister said.

“It’s a part of developing the country, but it’s also going to be deepening private sector involvement because the intention is to offer shares to people, pension funds and non-traditional investors in our economy.”

The Prime Minister said late last month that  the Government-appointed task force overseeing the liberalisation of the cellular phone market has completed its assessments, and would make a report to the nation.

Headed by former financial secretary Ruth Millar, it was appointed earlier this year to spearhead the process of issuing a second cellular license. The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) cellular monopoly expired on April 6, 2014.