Age Concern has welcomed Government’s consideration of a reverse mortgage system that could present an opportunity for seniors to turn home equity into hard cash.

The Ministry is in consultation with the Bermuda Bankers’ Association about the initiative, and is due to report its outcome to the House of Assembly.

“We are of course certainly in favour of looking at this as a way of helping seniors have a better cash flow position,” Charles Jeffers, chairman of Age Concern’s advocacy committee and deputy chairman of the board, said. “We are grateful for the step in that direction.

“Also, we feel what will be helpful from an Age Concern perspective is the talk from the Health Minister about looking at subsidising premiums up front — that could be a big help. It is much more dignified than having to go cap in hand to Government because you have a big bill.”

Mr Jeffers did voice concern about the omission of the issue of age discrimination in the workplace.

In September, campaigners put pressure on Government to clarify when it would fulfil its promise to outlaw discrimination on the basis of age. Michael Hanson, chairman of the Human Rights Commission, noted that in the UK the retirement age was abolished under the Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011 and had “no real impact on business”. The campaigners pressed for a similar move in Bermuda.

“We are now considering what will be our next move on this matter because we suggested some time ago that they follow what they did in Britain,” Mr Jeffers said.

“They keep saying they will do something, but they haven’t done anything, and to us this is an issue. There are some people who need to work, there are some people who want to work right now, but their employer can say, ‘Sorry, you are 65; see you later’.

“It has nothing to do with your health, either physical or mental, and to me this is wrong. These are the issues we were looking for.”

A Bermuda Health Plan was presented as part of the Throne Speech, which aimed to “provide a strategic approach to improve equity, quality and sustainability of our health system”.

Objectives included a review of Government’s hospital subsidy programme to provide universal access to basic healthcare coverage, an expansion of the standard hospital benefits to enhance preventive care and reduce reliance on hospitalisation, developing strategies to meet long-term healthcare needs of seniors and the disabled, and enhancing effectiveness of health promotion programmes as a means to encourage healthy lifestyles.