EDITOR, The Tribune.
Some things are above politics. As the need for National Insurance was in the 1970s, so the need for National Health Insurance is today.
Unfortunately, politics and a hostile press seems likely to bedevil the latter as it once did the former.
Though a child at the time, I remember well the slings and barbs aimed at the Pindling government for supposedly leading us down the road to socialism. I recall elements of the BDP/FNM still threatening to dismantle the NIB in the 1977 election campaign.
Today’s detractors should consider this: in the 1970s, with a Cold War looming and the lack of an internet, simple-minded fear-mongering about “socialism” had a certain respectability to it (remember Ronald Reagan?). Today it seems like out-of-date right wing buffoonery (again, remember Ronald Reagan?).
Those touting the rubbish that a NHI levy will “impoverish” Bahamians are either guilty of deep ignorance themselves or cynically promoting it in others. How on earth can any scheme that dedicates a portion of a population’s income to its health care “impoverish” that population?
In fact, when one measures the impact of being uninsured against the cost per person of a broad national coverage, the only possible outcome for the vast majority will be a higher (universal) rate of coverage and a lower financial impact of health events on the poorest segments of society. It is, in fact, a mischaracterisation to label such a levy as a “tax” at all. It is, rather, a savings plan.
The PLP is at its finest when it is in progressive mode, animated by an instinct to remove ancient and corrosive inequities from our national body. Unfortunately, it seldom does a good job of selling its vision across party lines. While I share the Prime Minister’s disappointment with “rich doctors” who begrudge coverage for the poor, perhaps a less personal and more compelling question needs to be asked of those who spread fear about the new NHI “tax”: just how many Bahamians have been “impoverished” by national insurance?
ANDREW ALLEN
Nassau,
March 4, 2015.
Comments
DonAnthony 9 years, 1 month ago
Mr. Allen should familiarize himself with the last actuarial review done on NIB. Based on current contributions and benefits expended the fund will be insolvent by 2026. Fully 22% of contributions are consumed by administrative costs, by far the highest in the Caribbean. Barbados and even Jamaica by comparison are under 10%. In short NIB is a wonderful idea, it has helped many people, but it is terribly bloated and inefficient and has been mismanaged by successive governments. And this is the govt that he wants to manage a massive health care program? Truth is these funds should be sacred and managed by an independent management team free from govt interference. Instead govts have used NIB as a slush fund to pay for all manner of expenditures that have nothing to do with pensions. We can not afford a national health program until our beauracracy becomes honest, and efficient and with as minimal govt interference as possible. The 40 year track record of NIB gives us no such hope.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 1 month ago
Case in point: The $32 million dollars that Perry Christie took away from NIB and gave to Bank of The Bahamas (BoB) in 2013 in order to plug that bank's capital deficiency caused by losses it incurred on loans granted to politically-connected persons (i.e. political friends and business cronies of Perry Christie). Perry Christie tried to do the same thing again in 2014 when BoB incurred additional losses on loans to 13 similar borrowers, which loans ended up being transferred to the newly created and scandalously opaque entity called Bahamas Resolve. But the loans transferred to Bahamas Resolve greatly exceeded $100 million, an amount which NIB could not easily withstand losing as a result of the corrupt lending practices at BoB. Hence the losses caused by the 13 defaulting borrowers had to be shamefully placed directly on the backs of hard working Bahamian taxpayers through Perry Christie's creation of the very secretive Bahamas Resolve, a grossly opaque entity now run by his personally chosen puppets.
DonAnthony 9 years, 1 month ago
This is the review, all bahamians should read this, it is a sobering warning of what can happen with a govt managed health program. We deserve so much better.
http://www.nib-bahamas.com/UserFiles/...">http://www.nib-bahamas.com/UserFiles/...
Administrative costs as a percentage of contributions in the Bahamas 21.6%, Barbados 5.2%, and Trinidad 4.9% - simply unbelievable mismanagement and wastage of precious pension funds!
duppyVAT 9 years, 1 month ago
You are correct Don ....................... this the m.o. for all government owned and quasi corporations ............ even in the government ministries, 70-80% of the recurrent expenditures are for salaries and benefits. And to add to that over $1 billion of non-contributory pensions for civil servants ........ this is simply unsustainable and will ruin our public fiscal system
asiseeit 9 years, 1 month ago
I do not think many Bahamians are against a NHI scheme. What many are against is letting government manage said scheme. They have proven time and time again that they can not be trusted with the peoples money. I wonder if Mr. Allen would feel comfortable letting government administer his personal funds? Some how I doubt he would, as he is astute and knows they would waste, mismanage and yes steal the lot. Only a fool would trust ANY government of The Bahamas with money.
banker 9 years, 1 month ago
I think that the word "PLP" and the word "finest" are oxymorons. Anyone who associates those two words is also an oxymoron -- without the oxy part of course.
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