Kim Wilson reiterated the need for affordable healthcare and promised that Government will move forward with reform.

Ms Wilson, the Minister of Health, said the Government is “pressing ahead” on proposals for financing reform developed under the national health plan task groups.

She told the House of Assembly: “This work will enable us to consider costed options and make informed decisions about our future health financing.

“I’m very excited about this work, and looking forward to sharing more about this over the coming months.

“Healthcare should never be a privilege. A civilised society needs a healthy population to thrive, so having access to affordable healthcare is vital to Bermuda’s prosperity.”

Ms Wilson said the theme chosen for International Workers Day, celebrated on May 1, was affordable and accessible healthcare for all.

She said: “We can talk about economic growth or recessions. Or about crime or prosperity. Or about our future or where we’ve come from.

“But without our health, we will go nowhere but to an early grave.

“Health is one of the most fundamental things we have to treasure in life. Without good health our children can’t learn or thrive or grow to their full potential. Unhealthy adults can’t be fully productive, effective members of society.

“And without health, we age without quality of life and in pain or distress, and feeling like a burden on those around us.”

She said the island still faces the issue of inequitable access to healthcare to the detriment of the country as a whole.

Ms Wilson said: “We pay for care that comes too late when it is most expensive. And we pay in societal costs when a family is left without a breadwinner who succumbs to a treatable illness because they lacked insurance.

“We pay for years of productive lives lost due to unmanaged chronic diseases that lead to amputation, permanent disability or daily reliance on complex, costly technologies like dialysis.

“We pay in unnecessary pain and suffering for children who lose parents, and for invasive, futile and undignified interventions at the end of life.”

• To read Kim Wilson’s statement in full, click on the PDF under “Related Media”