UBP: Minister Roban Using Age Bias Stereotyping
In a statement today, Opposition Leader Kim Swan said Health Minister Walter Roban’s comments about MP Louise Jackson show Mr Roban to be a “a practitioner of ageism“. Mr Swan went on to say Mr Roban’s words were “code invoking the worst kind of age bias stereotyping“.
Mr`Swan was referring to comments made by Minister Roban where he stated Mrs. Louise Jackson, the Shadow Health Minister, was “confused” on the issue of FutureCare. Mrs Jackson is a well known proponent for issues surrounding senior citizens, and a senior citizen herself.
FutureCare is a controversial health insurance plan for seniors which came into effect on April 1, 2009. [see FutureCare PDF brochure here]
Mr Swan went on to say:
This not the first time the Minister has used the term and while we gave him the benefit of the doubt before, the reuse of it confirms that Minister Walter Roban is a practitioner of ageism.”
The Minister’s coded language is not just insulting but also contains a message of prejudice that our society should regard as intolerable. Moreover, as Minister of Health overseeing the care of the elderly across the island, Mr. Roban’s offense is even more unacceptable.
Minister Roban was reffering to Mrs. Jackson’s statement that FutureCare could cost Bermuda up to $1 billion a year. That is the number the UBP calculated based on healthcare cost and population trends over the next 20 years.
Here are their components behind that calculation:
- Seniors are a steadily increasing proportion of Bermuda’s population, growing from a projected 8,313 seniors in 2010 to 14,500 in 2030.
- Younger workers—who will shoulder the burden of higher taxes and premiums in the future—are a steadily decreasing proportion of the population.
- Healthcare cost inflation has been running double to triple the inflation rate. HIP premiums doubled in the last six years from $108 per month in 2003 to $208 in 2009—an increase of more than 15 percent each year.
The graph below, courtesy of the UBP, illustrates what they state is the potential cost scenario for FutureCare in its present form if current trends continue.
The UBP say they based the graph on three assumptions:
- The growth in healthcare costs in Bermuda will increase at about 8 percent annually.
- The 65-and-over population in Bermuda will grow at the rates projected by the government Department of Statistics between 2010 and 2030.
- $1,200 per month per senior in 2009 is a realistic premium estimate for major medical comprehensive healthcare, given both current experiences in the private sector and comments attributed to government’s consulting FutureCare actuary.
