There will be NHI, even if it defies logic.
With comments like 'this is the right thing to do' and a 'new tax is better than death', Dr. Perry Gomez, Minister of Health, has announced the government will introduce NHI, yet he provided no details on costs associated with this grand scam scheme or what the new tax will be.
Typical of left wing politicos, they attempt to take the moral high ground even if they know within their hearts what they are saying is deceitful.
To suggest that by adding a new tax to fund government, healthcare will prevent death is as ethical as selling people land in the Everglades.
In 2000, and even before, The Nassau Institute played a very active role in releasing information about the dangers of socialised medicine.
In 2003, the Nassau Institute released a presentation entitled "A Healthcare Utopia" (pdf)
In February 2006, The Nassau Institute released an essay by Nadeem Esmail of the Fraser Institute, entitled "7 Questions the Blue Ribbon Commission on NHI should consider".
In August 2006, The Nassau Institute released a policy paper, again, by Nadeem Esmail, entitled, "Health Insurance in the Bahamas - An analysis and alternative policy options".
In October 2006, The Nassau Institute released a position paper on NHI.
In November 2006, a National Coalition for Health Care Reform was launched… Their web site remains active and is chock full of useful information. Visit it here…
In June 2007 The Nassau Institute was fortunate to have world renowned expert, Dr. Michael Walker of the Fraser Institute lecture here on the subject of Lessons From Global Experience for Bahamian Health Care Reform. Watch the presentation here…
And so eight or ten years later we've come full circle and are right back to discussing the false promises of the political class with NHI.
Please arm yourself with the facts found at the links above for a vigorous intellectual debate.
Do not be side tracked by their ad hominem rhetoric as opposed to valid responses to your questions and concerns.
I hope you can take the time to read this article by Ludwig Erhard, entitled, The German Miracle vs. the Welfare State. Here's a quote I still find quite profound:
"If, on the other hand, social policy aims at granting a man complete security from the hour of birth, and protecting him absolutely from the hazards of life, then it cannot be expected that people will develop that full measure of energy, effort, enterprise, and other human virtues that are vital to the life and future of the nation, and that, moreover, are the prerequisites of a social market economy based on individual initiative. The close link between economic and social policy must be stressed; in fact, the more successful economic policy can be made, the fewer measures of social policy will be necessary."
Like all the other countries that have ventured down this slippery slope to discover there is no utopia, we will undoubtedly learn the same lesson. Extricating ourselves from the ever escalating costs will be no easier than in first world countries, but we do not have their resources, so I suspect our fall will not be very graceful.
