A clear outline of the way forward for FutureCare would help alleviate seniors' stress over insurance coverage, according to an advocate for pensioners.

Age Concern director Claudette Fleming said she was pleased to hear Government plans to reopen HIP to people over 65, but said many seniors were still anxious.

"I am happy HIP has been reopened but we need the Government to give us a clear outline of expectations and dates," Mrs. Fleming said yesterday.

"We need to see a plan from beginning to end of what is going to happen and how it will play out. At the moment, because we cannot see that, it can seem like they are making it up as they go along and they may not be. We need to have a clear plan so we are all on the same page."

Last week Health Minister Walter Roban announced Government's intent to reopen HIP, a basic insurance plan for seniors, in November.

He said the move was necessary as private health companies began dropping low-cost insurance plans in April, when Government rolled out the first phase of its health care programme FutureCare.

HIP was closed to anyone over 64 when Government started up FutureCare. Thirty percent of seniors were admitted to the first phase of FutureCare. The rest of the Island's elderly population was expected to use private options and wait to see if they would be admitted in the second phase in April 2010. Soon after, however, private firms discontinued their HIP alternative. The cheapest available private plan is now $5,000 a year. HIP costs approximately $3,000 a year.

Mrs. Fleming said seniors were stressed because they did not know if they would be admitted in the next phase and were unable to afford private options. Now that HIP has reopened they are entitled to basic coverage. Mrs. Fleming said this too was stressful because it has left many wondering when they will be eligible for more coverage and how much it will cost.

"It has been very confusing for people in the industry, organisations like ours and seniors, because new information is coming out, sometimes daily."

She said she believed the Government's actuarial study, which has not been made public, probably outlined how to phase the programme in and what the costs involved were. While she does not believe the actuarial study should be made public something some insurance executives have said would be helpful Mrs. Fleming does believe that Government should be making their overall plan public.

How FutureCare has developed from 2007 election promise to today

Age Concern director Claudette Fleming has called for Government to provide the public with a clear and detailed outline about how its health care programme for seniors will be rolled out in the coming years.

The Royal Gazette takes a look at how FutureCare has evolved thus far.

• December 9, 2007 — Premier Ewart Brown says during a PLP pre-election press conference that FutureCare will "make the dreaded prospect of health care insecurity a thing of the past for our senior citizens".

• February 15, 2008 — The late Health Minister Nelson Bascome says: "FutureCare will be a health plan for all citizens of Bermuda aged 65 and over and will ensure access to effective, safe, coordinated, and patient-centred health care."

• February 20, 2009 — Mr. Bascome says during a Budget day press conference that the first phase of FutureCare will launch on April 1 for elderly people already enrolled in the basic state Health Insurance Plan (HIP) before January 1, 2009.

• March 11, 2009 — The Minister describes the launch of FutureCare as a "historic landmark for this Country" and says in its first year it will be restricted to those 65 and over presently in HIP, anyone turning 65 after January 1, 2009 and persons 65 and over deemed to be "indigent". This amounts to approximately 30 percent of the elderly population.

• March 23, 2009 — Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson said Government had "under-promoted" the deadlines for people signing up to FutureCare and claimed a lack of advertising meant many seniors had missed applying and were now out in the cold.

March 25, 2009 — Minister Bascome replied: "Let me be clear, there is not now, nor has there ever been, an application process or deadline for persons to sign up for FutureCare." He said no one who was a member of HIP had been required to fill out FutureCare applications.

• April 1, 2009 — HIP is replaced by FutureCare.

• April 2, 2009 — Health permanent secretary Warren Jones tells The Royal Gazette that seniors could still join HIP and qualify for FutureCare after January 1, 2009. He says the programme was only closed to newcomers after an influx of calls from pensioners wanting to sign up following the Minister's March 11 announcement. Asked if the Island's seniors were informed before the March 11 speech that HIP would become closed to them from a certain date, he replies: "No, they were not informed as phase one of the programme was being designed for persons presently on HIP." He admits that the requirement that seniors be in HIP in order to qualify for FutureCare "was not communicated to the public", and adds: "Nor was it our intent to do so."

• June 18, 2009 — Opposition Senator Michael Dunkley suggests $10 million spent on 'dolphin mitigation' could have been better spent on social programmes such as FutureCare.

• September 10, 2009 — Government flags up that private insurers who had provided a HIP equivalent, low-cost health package had ceased doing so. Newly appointed Health Minister Walter Roban said: "We have taken steps to fill this gap. Our Government programmes are established through legislation and therefore, the solutions will also have to be legislated."

• September 15, 2009 — A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said: "When the Government initiated FutureCare there were private sector options. They no longer exist. The Government is presently reviewing a proposal to address this issue."

• September 23, 2009 — Government announces it is reintroducing HIP for people over 65 as a result of private health insurers taking an equivalent low-cost plan from their books. People over 65 who do not qualify for the first phase of FutureCare, and are unable to afford the private options, should be able to enrol in HIP by late November. Mr. Jones added that they were looking at implementing a two-tiered system where those that could pay more would. He added that it was just one of the options Government was looking at.

April 2010 — The second phase is to be implemented. It is not known who will be eligible or how many people will be admitted.