The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Opposition’s deputy leader said yesterday that the Government should allow the full impact from Value-Added Tax (VAT) to “sink in” before its looks to introduce another levy to fund the proposed  National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.

 K P Turnquest, the East Grand Bahama MP and FNM finance spokesman, warned that the Government needs to be careful it does not “fix one problem and create another’.

   He told Tribune Business that NHI must be assessed carefully as an issue. “We need some form  of major medical insurance, and major medical is just that,” Mr Turnquest said.

“It is unfair for families to be suffering because they don’t have the financial means to care for their loved ones. I think, however, that this needs to be looked at very carefully. We obviously cannot afford a full-scale health plan for everyone, including preventative care and all the rest of it.

“We need a system where the public health authority, as we have today, takes care of those indigent people and provides information that will help our population maintain a healthy lifestyle so they can avoid some of the non-communicable and communicable diseases that we have in the country.”

  National Health Insurance (NHI) was developed as a policy priority under the first Christie administration. A 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission was appointed to review the feasibility of the scheme.

The National Health Insurance Act 2006 was tabled in Parliament by the Christie government on November 2006. The current administration has revived the plan ,which is now slated for a January 2016 first phase roll-out.

    During a presentation during the mid-year Budget debate on Monday, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez acknowledged that while the Government’s decision to go ahead with NHI was ambitious, it will become a reality in 10 months. 

NHI is expected to be financed via a new tax on Bahamians, although the rate of that tax has not yet been determined.

    “We have to allow the full impact of VAT to sink in, and the economy to adjust, before we start talking about new taxes again,” Mr Turnquest said.

“It is going to be very onerous on the population and businesses to be able to afford another tax. I was having a conversation recently with two business persons in Freeport, who said that as far as they are concerned,  if these new taxes are put in place they are going to have to adjust their costs, reducing the number of days that people work or let people go.

    “The Government has to be careful with what they are trying to do and balance any increase in cost and the payroll of these companies to ensure that we don’t fix one problem and create anther.

“They need to ensure that they create the right balance to ensure that people are taken care of, particularly  those who cannot afford it, and ensure that we continue to prosper and promote employment and business.”