by Sidney Sweeting DDS
With an election in mind this Government is proceeding with undue haste toward their proposed National Health Plan. With history as a guide, I ask the Bahamian people to look into the future and get an idea what medicine will be like in the Bahamas if they proceed with this plan, as is.
The year is 2012.
The first couple of years some Bahamians were happy with the new health plan because they could line up at the clinics and government hospitals with empty pockets except for their government-issued voucher card. Most Bahamians however, were now realizing that they were forced to give up their private insurance because employers could not afford to assist with both plans. They now realized that the plan was nothing more than an income tax, another “cash cow” for Government to use when one of its corporations needed a “loan,” as was the case with National Insurance.
Toward the end of the third year several prominent physicians had left the Bahamas after expressing their disgust about the deteriorating infrastructure and the deplorable condition of the equipment in the government hospitals. The increasing amount of bureaucracy that was taking so much time from their clinical work was becoming a constant source of irritation. Physicians no longer felt that they could make decisions without approval from a clerk in the system. They found that they were, in effect, working for the Government.
In addition, the lines at the clinics were getting longer by the week and the anger of the public increased with the length of the lines because everyone knew that there were patients in those lines who were illegal immigrants and so did not pay premiums. They were, in essence, paying for their treatment.
By the fourth year more physicians had left the country and the shortage of physicians and dentists was reaching a critical point so that Government was considering importing foreign physicians and dentists, mostly from Cuba.
Bahamians were being trained as interpreters and the public were being advised to take courses in conversational Spanish so that they could communicate with their doctors.
There was talk in the fourth year of increasing the premiums but there was so much opposition that the decision was made that there would be no further referrals to the US for treatment. If the treatment could not be done in the Bahamas, the patient was referred to Cuba.
By the fifth year, it was not unusual for a patient to have to wait a year to get a CAT scan or MRI and essential operations were postponed for months and there had been several reported deaths as a result of those delays. The usually placid Bahamian public was now starting to demonstrate to show their displeasure and anger at the Government for forcing them to give up their private health insurance. It had then become common knowledge that in 2006, before the National plan became law, Government had been urged by numerous organizations to consider the report presented to them by the Nassau Institute. This report had been prepared by Nadeem Esmail who had studied health plans in countries all over the world. This excellent report indicated the flaws in the plan presented by the BRC . Heeding this advice could have prevented the problems the Government is now experiencing.
Unfortunately, it was election year and Government was determined to force their plan through parliament before election date. There was no time on their agenda to consult or consider suggestions or alternate plans.
Does this sound like an impossible scenario, my fellow Bahamians?
If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, let's blame ourselves, not the Government.
They have a different agenda - to get elected.
Bahamians need to let them know, loud and clear, that if they proceed with this very flawed and ill-considered plan they will not have their vote on election day.
In the Tribune on August 22, Dr. Bernard Nottage stated “the people always thought something had to be perfect before it was implemented but said if that was the case nothing would ever be brought forward”. What an incredible statement!
We are talking about something that will adversely affect Bahamians for the rest of their lives. How about “striving for perfection”, Dr. Nottage.
We need to all be asking our Minister of Health why he is not consulting with the Bahamas Medical Association, the Bahamas Dental Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Bahamas Association of Realtors, the major Health Insurers, the Bahamas Employers Confederation, just to name a few who are opposed to this plan. After all, he is planning to meet with the Ministry of Immigration, then the straw vendors, followed by the hair braiders! Will he get advice from the hair braiders that will be better received than from the Medical Association?
Let us fervently hope that Bahamians will realize, before it is too late, that they are being led toward a financial and health care abyss from which there will be no escape.
Read my lips Bahamians: IT IS AN INCOME TAX!
