Bahamas Christian Council President Dr. Ranford Patterson told The Nassau Guardian that while he supports a universal national health care program, any additional tax on citizens to support such a scheme would be the "worst thing we could ever do for our country". Patterson encouraged the government to consider other means of funding National Health Insurance (NHI), including getting foreign investors to contribute to the scheme.
Prime Minister Perry Christie announced last month that the government is considering introducing a tax to fund NHI in the next fiscal year.
"The new budget period starts in July, and I think any new tax on Bahamians at this time is the worst thing we could ever do for our country," Patterson said. "I am totally against any new taxes on the people today. We have 2,000 [people] just laid off the other day... People today, cannot afford to put food on their tables.
Pointing to the 2,000 people laid off at Baha Mar last month, Patterson questioned what the Bahamian people have to show for the more than $1 billion worth of tax concessions the government claims it granted the troubled resort.
"Shouldn't we get some of that back that could perhaps assist us with National Health Insurance?" he asked. "I believe so. And all these great projects that we are doing around the country, what are they giving us back? It is time we be more creative in finding ways instead of taxing our people. Tax those who come in here.
"If you make $100 million in profit, you can give a couple million dollars to the government to assist with a project the government is doing. Listen, investors want to be in The Bahamas just as bad as we want them here. If they want to be here, there is a price to pay.
"That is my position. We have to find other ways to bring money into the country and pay for some of the government programs that we have. If not, and we keep taxing and taxing and taxing; the middle class is already struggling. Eventually, we would not have a middle class and then we would have the very rich and the very poor. Is that the kind of country we want?"
Patterson said any right-thinking Bahamian supports the concept of NHI. But he said a new tax on the backs of the people who are already hurting will lead to hopelessness.
"People do not know what to do," he said. "They get up every morning and do not know what to do. And the new tax will only make things worse.
On Monday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the government is still in the process of trying to put a price tag on the implementation of NHI. Its implementation is set for January 1, 2016, though the government has said it will phase the scheme in.
Sanigest, the international consultants hired by the government to do the costing for NHI, identified three packages of health insurance benefits: The Vital Package, the Core Package and the Expanded Package, with the services provided in each package being increasingly comprehensive.
Sanigest said these packages would cost $362.6 million, $504.8 million and $632.54 million, per year respectively. However, the Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA), estimates NHI's cost to be between $895 million and $965 million per year. Christie said the government will ensure that the program isn't cost prohibitive.
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