The National Health Insurance Commission has made a major decision about the proposal in a financial vacuum, the Nassau Institute has charged, urging the government appointed committee to halt its public relations campaign until it completes its report.
The Commission, which has said that a proposed national health insurance scheme is feasible, recently presented the first in a series of reports to the government.
But according to the tank, the Commission came to a conclusion about completing a costing of the alternatives.
“A careful reading shows that the Commission has a compassion and concern for the health and well-being for Bahamians; but it is acting prematurely and in response to what appears to be a politically-dictated imperative,” Mr. Massey said.
Ralph Massey a member of The Nassau Institute noted in an article that the report can only be viewed as a public relations effort for an unsubstantiated proposal that has no price tag.
The Commission has been holding a series of town meetings in various communities to try to educate the public about its findings.
Mr. Massey said conclusions have been reached in the midst of a fiscal and economic crisis.
According to Mr. Massey who is also an economist, the report states that an expected increase in those aged 65 and over will increase total health expenditures dramatically because that age group generates a disproportionate need.
“Free public health care may be limited by what a government can afford, said Mr. Massey but health care will compete with other government responsibilities.”
He also questioned the proposed solution of compulsory health insurance, inquiring whether it is a form of social security or tax.
Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Perry Gomez, said that the country spends more than $140 million on health and collects less than $5 million.
“The government cannot continue to afford it. And so that everybody has equal access to quality care, we have to find a means of funding health,” Dr. Gomez said.
ﾠMr. Massey further stressed that the Commission has a “political science” problem; it does not understand that “Government” generates no wealth but takes wealth from the people who have it or generate it.
“The Commission sees a limit in the Government’s present taxing capabilities and is simply devising a new tax with a more palatable label to cover dramatically expanding Government spending,” he said.
The critical question, Mr. Massey said becomes “How much of their income will people allow the Government to take?”
“Critics of the Commission most frequently refer to ethical and economic principles, principles that are misinterpreted as being long in self-interest and short in compassion,” he said.
“Nevertheless, the Commission is negligent if it does not address the concerns of someone like Dr. James Gwartney, a highly regarded development economist from Florida State University.”
He claimed that making health care or anything else “free” removes the incentive of both the buyers and sellers to economize. This he said would always result in soaring costs and waiting lines.
“The Commission to date has not addressed either of these results as they have occurred in other countries or as they could occur here,” Mr. Massey said. “It can ill afford to do so.”
Mr. Massey noted that this is especially true when the International Monetary Fund in its 2003 Consultation has taken the government to task for not doing enough to put its financial house in order.
The Commission, Mr. Massey said appears to be driven by a political imperative that could prove disastrous.
“First, the Blue Ribbon Commission on National Health Insurance should be renamed the “Blue Ribbon Commission on Healthcare” in order to impart a more open minded, even handed tone to a process that is still missing vital data,” he said.
He added that the Commission must move quickly beyond their initial statements and into an evaluation of the present situation and the alternatives.
“Two things are clear: there is a half-century of experience with modern healthcare and there is no perfect system,” he said.
By Yvette Rolle-Major, The Bahama Journal
