EDITOR, The Tribune.
THE decision of the government to push ahead with NHI is not surprising. They have a firmly established reputation of making poor and expensive decisions on behalf of the people they were elected to serve.
This government insists that it is acting in the best interest of the Bahamian people and that its objective is that all Bahamians have access to medical care. They will forge ahead they say, because of the commitment they have to ensure that not one more person dies because they do not have the financial means to access healthcare.
I wonder though how many Bahamians died in the public healthcare system because the government found it more fitting to hold a referendum on gambling first? How many died while the Prime Minister squabbled in the House with some of his junior ex-Ministers?
How many Bahamians died while the government allowed the Chinese to usurp economic dominance in this country while giving riot gear to protect their interests?
How many died while BAMSI burned and the government encouraged Bahamians to gyrate in the streets of Nassau? In my opinion, the value of human life as seen by this administration is reflected in the out of control murder rates and the fact that it has taken three years to bring this bill, which is farcical, to the fore.
NHI will fail, but not because it is a bad idea. It will fail because it is this government’s idea, a government that is motivated by fulfilling promises in its manifesto and for re-election purposes. A government that wants access to large sums of money pre-election. NHI will fail because the Bahamian population is burdened with too many medical problems and is too sick for any government to underwrite medical care for. NHI will fail because health care costs to the government will only escalate annually because our population is getting sicker not healthier.
NHI will fail because government officials do not have to access the public system for service. Lastly, NHI will fail because successive governments will not have the same passion and motivation this government claims it has, to ensure its success.
How do you trust a government to administrate something as massive as National Health Insurance, when they could not ensure that the contractor at BAMSI had proper insurance?
Just something to think about!
JB
Nassau,
February 8, 2016.
Comments
EasternGate 8 years, 2 months ago
Spot on!
evalynC 8 years, 2 months ago
JB, please take a walk back in history and look at headlines around when the PLP was introducing NIB. There were many predictions of doom and gloom but today many poor Bahamians would have no pension at all in old age if it was not for NIB.
Its true that NHI is a complicated and costly venture, however, lets be real - we only have 300,000 people in the Bahamas. Thats not even a decent size group in comparison to some companies in the world - many of which have far more than 300,000 employees.
The real problem is the abuse of less informed members of the public which has been allowed by companies such as Family Guardian. NHI will atleast replace home service policies for the poorest in the land. At the moment poor people pay millions of dollars every year in premiums for such policies but get practically no benefit. Its really a disgrace.
NHI will not fail because when people will sacrifice and fight for it when they come to realize what they have been missing.
sheeprunner12 8 years, 2 months ago
NIB is not NHI ............. two different things with two different outcomes
avidreader 8 years, 2 months ago
Yes, let us recall how much resistance there was to the concept of National Insurance in the early and mid 1970s. Pindling said that many would resist the idea but one day would be glad to have such a system in place. National Health Insurance is perhaps a more complex and certainly a more ambitious scheme but in the long run it could prove to be an advantage for the general public if such a system can be maintained within reasonable parameters of cost, efficiency and, above all, honesty.
sheeprunner12 8 years, 2 months ago
BUT ............ what Perry is selling us now, we already have .... primary health care ............ DUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH .......... this is not the major issue we have ......... we have a chronic non-communicable & lifestyle diseases problem ........... annual doctor visits cannot solve that
sheeprunner12 8 years, 2 months ago
NHI is just like public education ................ it is bad because it caters to the masses ........ the privileged go to private schools and private doctors ............. just more taxes for the poor
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