OBA On FutureCare: Jackson Was Right
The One Bermuda Alliance has said that Health Minister Zane Desilva should apologize to Louise Jackson, and also said the the Ministry of Health has made “deeply shocking admissions” in its letter to its policy holders about FutureCare.
Shadow Minister of Health Michael Dunkley said, “There are really two parts of this sorry story that need addressing. The first is that the letter to FutureCare policy holders, dated 17 January 2012, and signed by Mr. Collin J. Anderson, Director of the Government’s Health Insurance Department, vindicates completely all that our colleague Mrs. Louise Jackson has been saying about FutureCare since it was first announced.
“I don’t want to be sidetracked into a debate about whether the Minister, Zane DeSilva, called Mrs. Jackson a liar or not. Whatever he said, it is correct to say that he was angry about Mrs. Jackson’s remarks. He made an allegation to the House of Assembly and then on radio that she was spreading misinformation.
“Her actions show that the Opposition is so desperate that they will mislead our seniors,” he said. ”The Opposition is not desperate. We would not mislead Bermuda’s seniors. In Mrs Jackson, we had a tenacious and well-informed colleague…better-informed, as it turns out, than Mr. DeSilva.”
“We think that under the circumstances, Mr. DeSilva should make a complete and unreserved apology to the Mrs. Jackson. That would be the correct and the decent thing to do.
“We don’t mean to suggest that the Minister would himself have been cynical and irresponsible enough to deliberately mislead the House of Assembly, the radio audience and the rest of Bermuda about what Mrs. Jackson said. Perhaps the Minister was misled, whether by accident or design, we cannot say.
“But if this is the case, he ought to get to the bottom of it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, because Ministers just can’t afford to allow themselves to be kept in the dark on important matters, especially matters which are controversial, as this one is.
“The second part of this story concerns the deeply shocking admissions the Ministry of Health has made in its letter to its policy holders about FutureCare.
“First, and in a general sense, it amounts to an admission that the public, and specifically those who signed up for FutureCare were seriously misled about the benefit package, to the grave detriment of all those who gave up other insurance packages to switch.
“It amounts to an admission that they irresponsibly launched FutureCare – in the midst of the 2007 election – without having done their homework properly. At the time of the announcement, people in the private sector wondered how on earth the Government could afford to finance a scheme which offered such generous benefits.
“Now we know. Government couldn’t,” said Sen. Dunkley.
“Mr. Anderson, the director of the Health Insurance Department, admits that “We delayed implementation of this co-payment because we required time to complete other aspects of our system implementation prior to making this change.”
“The person in charge at the time was former Minister Walter Roban. It now seems clear that he and whoever advised him simply did not think the scheme through properly. Was an actuarial study done? Was there financial modeling? Was there a business plan? Was there an implementation plan? We don’t know the answer to those questions, but we do know that a grave doubt has now been created.
“For Minister DeSilva to preside over a sudden cut of benefits by 25%, a 25% that the insured will now have to come up with themselves in a co-paying arrangement, and then call it a “tweaking” of the system speaks volumes about the disconnect that exists between him and FutureCare’s target population, who are the elderly poor.
Sen. Dunkley continued on to say, “He obviously has no earthly idea of the impact of such a “tweaking” on people who are working to a tight budget, especially at an economic time like this one.
“This raises a couple of key questions. Will care providers require that 25% up front to protect themselves? What will happen when the insured default on paying their portion of the co-pay? These are questions that must now be answered.
“Finally, I would make the point that in our system, the buck stops with Minister DeSilva. He’s in charge. He gets the credit when things go well, and if they don’t, he should get the blame.
“I wonder why a civil servant is being pushed out in front by being made to write a letter like this one. Now that it has become public, as it obviously would sooner or later, and a fuss is arising as a result of the Government’s serious shortcomings, who is going to be held accountable? Is it going to be a scapegoat civil servant? Or does the buck really stop where it should; with the Minister?” concluded Sen. Dunkley.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to our request yesterday morning for comment, however we will update as able.
Zane – what your saying now???
Some of you cheep B!!!! Need to pay for your own insurance.
dunkley you need to stop and start speaking to your brother first. Charity starts at home FRIST. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS LOOK IN THE BIBLE.
What do you know about the bible? ah!!! Neighbor……..?
LOL
Ok I’ll ask again… Some must have an answer…,
@Laverne @trident @specialgirl – d-reader – any blind loyalist…. please explain to me – How the heck can you believe the PLP will win the next election with all the ethical issues, flipfloppin, mismanagement of the people’s money, hooking up friends and aceboys, ruining of international business, MPs refusing to take a pay cut and on and on….? I mean this government has been ridiculous! How cud you Or anyone else even dare make a case for the PLP? They have been useless for this island. Now you have Zane Desilva having to apologize to Louise Jackson today because she was right about future care after all. Please will one of you, someone, anyone tell me how such a good government in blind people’s eyes can make so many mistakes dnd messups? It’s like they ain’t got a clue in what they’re doing. I mean it gets worse by the day. I can’t understand it – Please someone explain the dumbness! If this plp government gets back in power we bermudians deserve the beating were now getting! Will someone anyone please answer my above questions!!!
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer
WOW guess Spin time on ths
As usual, throw the hapless civil servant under the bus or, in this case, more appropriately, slice him with the knife. Meanwhile the cowardly Minister runs for cover.
Zane Desilva & Walter Roban owe appologies. It would be the honorable thing to do. Lets not hold our breaths waiting for either to appologise. Honorable behavior is not the PLP way. Wait awhile. Search around. Then blame somebody else for what they are reponsible for.
That is the PLP way.
DeSilva is not humble enough to apologize.
He is seriously underestimating the seniors anger at him for the stress caused by his ignorance of his own bill.
Lets just hope those seniors do the right thing & carry that anger to the polls.
What is the OBA’s plan……go back to private Insures and have seniors pay $1,200 – $1,500 per month…with a 20% co-payment along with a list of exemption…
I don’t blame the civil servant….I pity them…the country expecting them to perform duties for which they have not been prepare for..the UBP now OBA failed to modernize government services..they failed to equitably train the staff to operate in the modern work place. hence to over uses of consultants.
PLP all the way….we can’t go back…
So we will not go forward that’s the PLP plan?????????????
LOL nice.
By the way to all using my name I’m trade marking it.
LOL (original TM*)
SO THE OBA COULD KILL THEM..
AND BY THE WAY WHO SAID THE SENIORS ARE ANGRY THATS WHAT LOUISE SAID SHE WAS 80 YOU KNOW,DO YOU THINK SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH HER MINE. HA HA.
Zane Desilva is an absolute disgrace. PLP love him though cuz he’s a “Yes Man” and does whatever he’s told to do. He makes me sick to my stomach. Getting pretty tired of seeing him speeding around in his GP car with his brown nose stuck up in the air. What a fool.
Ditto on that “What a Fool”
Not unlike when banks roll out new products with ‘teaser’ rates to entice new customers only to downgrade the service or rates somewhere down the line………..not illegal but smacks of unethical.
(at least the banks tell you up front though!)
This was an ideal case in which Minister DeSilva had a golden opportunity to show that he could be man enough to admit that he made a mistake in castigating Louise Jackson for telling us that Government had NOT informed us about the 25% co-payment.
Instead he has chosen to humiliate a public servant and order him to confess to failing to inform the public about the 25% co-payment issue, while still denying that he wrongly accused Ms. Jackson of misleading the public.
Politicians sometimes make mistakes and Minister DeSilva would have earned kudos if he had fessed up and said that on this occasion he was wrong. Now we see the man as he really is. He simply cannot face the truth – or the facts. It’s time for change.
Why do we have a construction mogul in charge of the Ministry of Health!? Surely someone with experience in health related services would be a better candidate, hence the failures of the current policy. One of the biggest problems within the government is that we have people running ministries who have no experience in the areas they are in charge of. Would you hire a doctor as a contractor to build your house? I doubt it! If we the taxpayers are paying MP’s wages and they are using our tax dollars the least you would expect is someone qualified to do the job!!!