The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

For many months the government of The Bahamas has been working on a national health insurance plan. They have spent money on consultants who have produced documents outlining their recommendations for national health insurance and yet we have never seen these documents. Why is the government hiding this information from the people? The people paid for the consultants, and the documents they produced are not a matter of national security so why have they not given us a copy of it? If the government moves forward with a national health insurance policy it will take us down a road of economic ruin. It will have far-reaching social and economic impact for many years to come. So my question to the government is why are you being so secretive with respect NHI and why are you rushing this through the House to try and implement it in early 2016?

The government is being so secretive and so rushed because they don’t want the Bahamian people to know the truth of what NHI is going to do. They don’t want to tell people about the new taxes that will be levied, how this new insurance will restrict the average Bahamian’s right to choose a doctor they want to see and how waiting lines for healthcare will become a common thing in the Bahamas. This government is rushing this legislation because they are praying that they will get it passed before anybody finds out how this will really impact all of our lives for generations to come.

This makes me feel that there are other motives that are driving this Government which have nothing to do with the health and welfare of the people. I call upon this government to release all of the information that they have pertaining to their proposed national health insurance policy, and allow the people to have a full understanding of what they intend to do now and in the future. My bet is that they will not release this, they will continue to hide in the shadows.

DISTRESSED

Nassau,

March 1, 2015.