Opposition bats for national health scheme

OPPOSITION LEADER Andrew Holness has said the fear of a proposed national health insurance scheme being seen as a new tax should not prevent the proposal from being considered.

"Suppose we were able to make it not burdensome, suppose we were able to make it something that is so small that people say it doesn't affect us much; suppose we were to reorganise the tax system such that taxes that are discretionary are removed and taxes that will provide greater access to social care are maintained," said Holness at a media briefing on Friday.

The Opposition has proposed that a prepaid insurance system be introduced to cover the cost of health care in public facilities.

"There is now going to be a reform of the tax system. The dialogue for development cannot continue in the way in which we have carried the dialogue in the fear of doing things," said Holness.

At the same time, Dr Ken Baugh, the opposition spokesman on health, has said the proposed policy to fund health care delivery does not have to be led by the state.

"It does not have to be a government tax. It can be a private sector or it could be a government-private sector partnership," said Baugh.

"We need to discuss this to determine what is the best way of doing this; sometimes it can be done by just extending the NIS," added Baugh.