Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday called Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis' announcement that his party would not support taxing Bahamians to fund National Health Insurance (NHI), his "latest stage act of flip-flopping". Minnis made that announcement on Tuesday. "Just in case Dr. Minnis has a short or selective memory, I wish to remind him that the FNM is on record as supporting both NHI and a levy to finance same," Roberts said in a statement.
"They said so during the 2007 general election campaign. Minnis sat around the FNM Cabinet table and approved a levy to finance the prescription drug plan as the first phase of NHI implementation. He agreed with a phased approach to NHI right up to May 7, 2012, only now to oppose NHI."
Months before the 2007 election, NHI legislation was passed in Parliament, but regulations to flesh out the program's details were never introduced. Upon coming to office, the Ingraham administration introduced a national prescription plan. Minnis, a former minister of health, said on Tuesday the FNM's health plan "would have eliminated the problems that we see in the hospital in terms of [overcrowding]".
Health Minister Dr. Perry Gomez admitted to Parliament on Monday that the government has yet to determine how much NHI will cost or how it will be funded. But Gomez noted that the proposal that was presented under the first Christie administration called for a payroll tax.
When asked by Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins if the government planned to implement a new tax to support NHI, Gomez said, "taxes are better than death". Minnis said there are too many unanswered questions about the proposed plan.
"Though Minnis attempts to convince the Bahamian people that he cares about their health and well-being, the FNM leader does not care about them and will not put them first," Roberts said.
He added that Minnis has flip flopped and landed on the "wrong side of history" on the most "transformational and consequential matters of the past decade": value-added tax (VAT), the amended Gaming Act and NHI.
"He believes that in a free, modern, democratic Bahamas, if Bahamians are sick, and cannot afford proper healthcare, they should, and deserve to die," Roberts asserted. "This is the consequence of Minnis' new position. This is terrible leadership and not the Bahamian way. "Dr. Minnis must learn how to be a Bahamian.
"I again remind all and sundry that according to St. James, a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. A word to the wise is sufficient." Roberts said access to affordable, quality healthcare is a human right. He accused the FNM of not sharing this belief.
"It is not a privilege and a government has a duty to protect the health and welfare of its most precious resource, its people," Roberts said. "We believe this obligation to be part of the sacred social contract with the Bahamian people. "This PLP government under the leadership of the Right Honorable Perry G. Christie will honor that sacred obligation." Roberts added that posturing, political blusters and public antics of distraction by the opposition will not deter the government. The government plans to implement NHI in January 2016. Ahead of the 2012 general election, Gomez said at a rally that if elected, the PLP would implement NHI in the first year.
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