Members of the government assemble for the one-year Budget communication, delivered in the House of Assembly by Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Minnis administration will introduce the first phase of its Catastrophic Care Insurance Plan in the upcoming fiscal year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest announced yesterday.
It’s not clear what provisions have been budgeted for the plan, with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) slated to receive $20,000,000 in the next budget cycle, 50 percent less than it received last year.
“We anticipate a contributory plan,” Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said when asked about provisions for NHI yesterday. He is expected to elaborate on this when he contributes to the budget debate in the next few weeks.
Mr Turnquest yesterday also revealed information about the administration’s breadbasket transformation plans when he talked about value added tax exemptions on such items.
Changes to the new breadbasket list are not as ambitious as the government had forecasted.
Margarine, mayonnaise, corned beef, canned soups, broths and condensed milk, items officials said were likely to be removed from the list, remain on the list. One item removed is sugar. Items officials hoped would be included on the list like beans and peas, raw almonds, raw cashews, fresh organs, fresh apples, root crops, oatmeal as well as tuna, sardine and mackerel canned in water were not included on the breadbasket list Mr Turnquest outlined yesterday.
“This is a process,” Dr Sands said yesterday. “There’s one thing to adjust the financial implications of the breadbasket, it’s another thing to continue the conversation to get people to modify their behavior even if there’s not an immediate impact in terms of pricing. The fact that there are certain things that remain on the breadbasket that we would have made comments about in our public consultation doesn’t necessarily mean that people will continue to consume them at the same rate nor is this process fixed in time.”
“We’re going to continue to lobby for more fruits and vegetables. The idea is to refine this process as we go along.”
Comments
birdiestrachan 5 years, 10 months ago
How happy they all are to throw the poor Bahamian people under the bus.
DDK 5 years, 10 months ago
You right on that one!
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 10 months ago
The happiest one appears to be Frankie Campbell. He knows 'his own people' will be spared from a lot of the burden caused by the increase in VAT while getting more benefits than ever from the increased taxation of honest, hard working, and 'taxed to death' Bahamians. Meanwhile Symonette will continue with his ramping up of the grant of Bahamian citizenship to ever increasing numbers of Haitian illegal immigrants. Our country is being stolen from us by a Minnis-led government that promised it would be the people's time, but we realize he meant the Haitian people, not the Bahamian people!
DDK 5 years, 10 months ago
How the hell are they going to implement the Catastrophic Care Insurance Plan when people are dying without receiving medical treatment on gurneys in the hospital halls? How much are they going to raise NIB for that one? What about all the wasted funds on partially built and understaffed (meaning qualified doctors) at hospitals on the Family Islands? Dr. Sands could not even get his healthy diet tax modifications through. Too many outright lies and half-truths. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! RISE UP PEOPLE!!!
DDK 5 years, 10 months ago
Bunch a jerks!
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