The Tribune

By CORLETTE DEVEAUX. MBA

Imagine working for 30 years, building a career, raising a family, saving for retirement, and finally achieving some measure of financial security. Then, one unexpected diagnosis changes everything.

Suddenly, savings begin disappearing. Medical expenses increase. Your ability to work may be interrupted. Family members step away from their jobs to become caregivers. The financial independence you worked so hard to achieve slowly becomes financial uncertainty. This is a side of poverty we do not talk about enough.

As The Bahamas continues its important national conversation about reducing and ultimately eradicating poverty, we must ask ourselves a critical question: Are we giving enough attention to the relationship between health and financial security?

We often associate poverty with unemployment, inadequate housing, limited education, and low wages. These are important challenges. But serious illness can also push individuals and families into financial hardship, including those who have spent their lives working, saving, and contributing to society. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other serious conditions can affect anyone, regardless of income, education, or professional success. Medical expenses can accumulate, income can disappear, and retirement savings can be depleted. The financial consequences may extend across generations.

The numbers tell a sobering story. According to the World Health Organisation and World Bank’s 2025 Universal Health Coverage Global Monitoring Report, approximately 2.1 billion people worldwide experienced financial hardship associated with out-of-pocket healthcare expenses in 2022. Closer to home, World Bank data indicate that approximately 27.5 per cent of total healthcare expenditure in The Bahamas was paid directly out of pocket in 2023. This represents more than one-quarter of national healthcare spending.

While this figure does not tell us how many Bahamian families have fallen into poverty because of illness, it raises an important question: How many Bahamian families could find their financial stability threatened by an unexpected health crisis? And perhaps more importantly, what can we do to protect them?

The Bahamas has taken important steps to strengthen healthcare access, prevention, and chronic disease management. Building upon these efforts, we have an opportunity to further integrate health and financial protection into our broader national poverty reduction strategy

What if we viewed affordable healthcare, preventive services, appropriate early detection, chronic disease management, and financial protection as investments in economic stability?

What if protecting a family’s health became as central to our poverty reduction strategy as creating employment opportunities?

Technology and health innovation offer opportunities to support earlier health awareness and better chronic disease management. Innovations such as Rm2.ai™, an AI-powered health intelligence platform, can contribute to this effort by supporting continuous health monitoring, earlier awareness of changes in health, and more proactive care, helping individuals and families become better informed and engaged in protecting their health and financial well-being. However, innovation must work alongside accessible healthcare, affordable treatment, appropriate insurance coverage, and meaningful support for family caregivers.

We must also recognise that not every illness can be prevented. Even individuals who make healthy lifestyle choices can develop serious medical conditions. That is precisely why accessible care and financial protection matter. Having spent decades working in healthcare and advocating for older adults, I believe health should be viewed not simply as a healthcare priority, but as an essential pillar of economic resilience.

Reducing poverty requires a comprehensive approach that creates opportunities for those already experiencing financial hardship while strengthening protections for families vulnerable to economic setbacks. This is a shared conversation for government, healthcare professionals, insurers, employers, community organisations, and families.

Because behind every health statistic is a person. Behind every person is a family. And behind every family is a future worth protecting. If we are serious about reducing poverty, we must recognise that protecting health is also protecting wealth.

A healthier Bahamas is not simply a healthcare aspiration. It is an economic necessity