Petrifying pensioners

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The Progressive Labour Party’s efforts to throw doubts over the One Bermuda Alliance’s pledge to maintain benefits for FutureCare patients does not seem to be gaining traction.

That’s because it is pretty hard to argue against an unequivocal statement from the OBA’s leadership, made at an official party press conference. That has not stopped the PLP from trying, most recently on Tuesday at a stage-managed event at Government’s Sylvia Richardson Rest Home, where Health Minister Zane DeSilva raised it again.

It’s worth looking back at this issue’s history for some context. The PLP promised to introduce Future Care in the 2007 general election. In doing so, it said it would make healthcare affordable for all senior citizens. The plan was not costed and there was little detail on benefits, although it was implicit that ti would be similar to major medical insurance.

One ad featured 85-year-old Eugene Phillips, who had had three surgeries in 2007 and could not afford a fourth.

“Eugene knows that from next year, Future Care will take care of his medical problems and those of others aged over 65. that’s why Mr Philips is smiling now ...,” the PLP ad said. “Future Care will provide full medical coverage for all seniors from age 65, which is when they need it most.”

That’s not exactly how it worked.

Eventually FutureCare was phased in over several years. Depending on when seniors signed up, they had to pay different levels of premiums and received different levels of benefits. And the benefits have been scaled back. At first, surgical procedures were fully covered. Now seniors have to pay 25 percent of the cost.

This is largely because of greater problems in the healthcare area. As Mr DeSilva himself has said, Bermuda’s health costs are rising at an unsustainable level and this will get worse as the proportion of seniors grows to an estimated 25 percent of the population, since seniors need greater levels of care.

FutureCare lost $2 million in 2010, its first year, and seemed more than likely to lose about the same amount last year.

Mr DeSilva said when this was announced: “We expect FutureCare’s claims to increase significantly in future years and the positive results of the first two years of operation are not an indication that the fund will continue to be successful in the absence of careful planning and prudent actuarial analysis.”

There is no doubt that Bermuda faces a major challenge with regard to providing affordable healthcare to seniors.

The question is not whether these services should be provided, but how it can be done in a sustainable way. It is not clear that FutureCare can do that as it is presently constituted, and its past history of scaling back services offers no confidence that the PLP will do so.

So instead of scaremongering about what the OBA has already said it will not do, it would be better for Bermuda to gave a genuine debate, based on the facts, about seniors’ healthcare.

Bermuda deserves better than this.

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