The Tribune

PRIME MINISTER Christie looked down the dark tunnel and found what we all told him he would find — darkness. The light that he had hoped would be there was not there, neither was there an economy, or a people who could afford to be taxed to supply his much-heralded National Health Insurance scheme.

And so, declaring that his administration is not ”stupid” and, possibly realising that it would cost him his 2017 election if he imposed an additional tax so soon after the controversial VAT, he declared that there would be no more taxes — “at this time”. Possibly, if he wins the 2017 election, we will get the full tax structure thrown at us, but not just yet. The full scheme is estimated to cost anywhere from $300 to $965m. However, in the interim, there will be an abridged version of National Health with government footing the bill — with tax payers’ money, of course.

State Finance Minister Michael Halkitis estimated that the first phase of the health care scheme would cost $60m which, he said, was included in the 2015/2016 Budget for the Public Hospitals Authority.

Mr Christie recognised that the continued growth of our economy is not only critical to the overall success of The Bahamas, but also to our ability to fund universal healthcare in the future.”

And therein lies the rub – economic growth and more jobs. During earlier debates, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez explained that National Health Insurance (NHI) is a “contributory scheme and the level of employment is very important because the more unemployed there are the greater burden on the government to finance it”.

Dr Gomez said that when the report was done more than ten years ago in the first Christie government, unemployment was just under eight per cent. However, he continued, when the PLP were returned to office in 2012, “the unemployment rate was 15 per cent, hence the reservation in going forward at the time”. Despite this he believed that government’s projected date – January 2016 — for implementation was now feasible. He claimed that “the state of the economy would be much better”, adding that “it’s already improving”. How he could have made that statement when he did was incredible. Not only was the economy not improving, but it was getting worse — with only Baha Mar at that time in sight as a possible bail out. That was then, but now several months later even Baha Mar is not in sight.

This week, the rating agency, Standard & Poor, which earlier had had high hopes that The Bahamas would improve its ratings — then standing at two points above “junk” — saw little hope of that with Baha Mar’s opening now in question. Standard & Poor has made it clear that the Bahamas has now lost all chance of this “negative” outlook being raised. Rather, S&P said this week, it was preparing to “revise downwards” the growth estimated for this nation.

An NIB plan introduced at the Princess Margaret Hospital at this time would make the care of patients even more critical. Outpatient numbers, now almost impossible to handle, would increase with patients expecting a standard of care that the hospital would not be able to provide. Even the much touted Critical Care block is not fully equipped and all of its operating theatres are not yet open.

However, with finances so tight, there is one area that the Hospital Authority should revise to make certain that the free services that are now provided are only available to the indigent.

Many years ago, we had a personal experience as to who should be expected to pay for Out Patient services at PMH. We wrote about it at the time, but presume no changes have been made. About 30 years ago, our eighty-year-old mother, going down steps from a government building, slipped, fell and broke her wrist. She was rushed to PMH’s emergency room, where she received excellent treatment and her wrist was repaired by a surgeon. When it came time to pay, she was told that because of her age, the services were free. We protested. Here was a woman, although elderly, who had full insurance to cover all of her expenses. Even without insurance, her bill could have been paid on the spot. But, no, she was in her eighties, and no longer had to pay.

We even tried to do a deal. We offered to pay full cost of the surgeon, the x-ray and the nurses so that the funds could be used for someone else who could not afford such services.

The answer, of course, was in the negative. There is something wrong with this. For those who have insurance, or who can afford to pay even without insurance — regardless of age — should do so, so that all funds are available for the less fortunate.

As our Devonshire grandmother used to lecture us: “Remember every mickle makes a muckle.”

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Apprenticeship programme reinstated

We are pleased that Prime Minister Christie has seen the wisdom of reinstating the FNM’s apprenticeship programme, which should never have been discontinued. It was announced in the House yesterday that government had budgeted $20m to assist with youth unemployment.

The programme will be managed in partnership with the private sector, with government providing a wage subsidy for the students. The Christie government gave a disdainful sniff at the Ingraham programme, cut off funding and shutting it down shortly after coming to power. It was a 52-week scheme in which the private sector provided employment and government paid the salary. This helped young Bahamians find jobs, many of whom were retained on staff when the 52 weeks ended.

The programme was heavily criticised by the Christie government. Mr Christie justified his government’s decision to close it down in 2012 by explaining that some people paid under the 52-week programme did not show up for work. We find this hard to believe. This could have happened under government employment, but it’s most unusual for such behaviour to be tolerated in the private sector. A private employer would have immediately dismissed the unreliable employee and all payment would have stopped. It was a lame excuse used to stop a commendable programme, which helped so many young people.

The Tribune was a part of the programme and the student sent to us, whose salaray was paid by government for 52 weeks, is still on our reporting staff and doing very well.

According to the statistics, overall unemployment is 15.7 per cent, while youth unemployment is 31 per cent.

The Christie government is desperate and so a good programme has been resuscitated.