Opposition member and First District representative Andrew Fahie has said government should first consider the social and economic implications before imposing the National Health Insurance (NHI).
“We have a lot of things that we have to look at. We have to look at the socio-economic impact of this scheme. We have to look at what percentage the employer/employee will be paying and how this will affect local businesses.
“We have to see what will be best, yes we want to see that people have the best health care and fair to everyone, but we cannot implement something that will cause the demise of many of our local businesses or our whole economic structure in the BVI, so I think we have to look at it in more indept,” the opposition member said.
Fahie said the NHI will definitely have an impact on small businesses in the territory.
“We have to analyze what other options will be there. We have to look at it from a holistic point of view. Politically it will be good to say that we have the National Health Insurance passed but would this be to the detriment of the economy? Would this be to the detriment of other things? What domino effect it would have? We have to be careful as leaders of always fixing one thing but destroying many others,” he said.Fahie complimented the government for organizing meetings with the community, but noted that as a member of the House of Assembly, he will need the first draft of the legislation, so that the members of the opposition will have the opportunity to learn more about the NHI.
“This was something started by the two administrations and the University of the West Indies (UWI), and I have always felt that it should have been tendered and not just handed to UWI who were the consultants, and this could have given us a better selection so that the people can get a better deal; from then and even during our administration, I questioned if this could not still be the case but we are where we are right now,” Fahie said.
He added: “What should have been part of the discussions is the first draft, because right now, they have a little pamphlet that they are going around with at their meetings, and that has some of the basic things that they are discussing but when the legislation comes to the House for the first reading, there is no guarantee that what’s in the pamphlet will be in the legislation. And that begs the question: are we really having intelligent discussions on the National Health Insurance Scheme?”Fahie said the committee responsible for holding the meetings “are doing what they have been assigned to d” but the draft legislation is crucial to having more in-depth conversation then “we can see what employer/employees will be putting in and we will be able to see much more and then speak more intelligently and more knowledgeable, so that we can give constructive criticism on the people of the BVI getting the best deal out of this”.
Government plans to launch the NHI in August but some residents are against the initiative, saying it should not be mandatory. However, Health Minister Ronnie Skelton said the NHI has wide coverage for health benefits and is one way of making health care accessible to persons who cannot afford it.
