Government has admitted it deliberately left seniors in the dark about the launch of FutureCare in order to ensure that as few people as possible benefited from the new health insurance programme in its first year.

Health permanent secretary Warren Jones told The Royal Gazette that pensioners were purposefully not told that the only way they could be a part of the much-vaunted scheme was by ensuring that they were already in the basic state Health Insurance Plan (HIP).

Mr. Jones said that when that fact was revealed by Health Minister Nelson Bascome on March 11, Government was "inundated" with requests from seniors to join HIP, could not afford the numbers and so closed the doors on the scheme. HIP is now unavailable to pensioners and less than half of the Island's 7,000-strong senior population will enjoy the greater benefits offered by FutureCare for at least the next year — despite Mr. Bascome promising in February 2008: "FutureCare will be a health plan for all citizens of Bermuda aged 65 and over."

Premier Ewart Brown promised before the 2007 election that it would "make the dreaded prospect of health care insecurity a thing of the past for our senior citizens".

Shadow Health and Seniors Minister Louise Jackson said last night that Mr. Jones' admission confirmed her suspicion that seniors had been "conned and duped" over FutureCare.

She said: "Who knew that they had to be a part of HIP in order to be part of FutureCare? The Government never gave us any indication at any time that we had to be a part of HIP.

"You can't, if you are a responsible government, launch a public — i.e. paid for by the taxpayer — plan and not tell anybody about it. It's my right and the right of every other person in this Country to have known that the way to get FutureCare is to be a member of HIP."

Mr. Jones told this newspaper that seniors who joined HIP after January 1 this year — but before the decision in March to close the doors on the programme — were being transferred to FutureCare.

"Mrs. Jackson is correct that this was not communicated to the public," said Mr. Jones. "Nor was it our intent to do so."

He said an internal decision was taken to launch "phase one" of FutureCare with those seniors already enrolled in HIP. "The working team looked at the numbers the programme could afford in phase one.

"It is also important to note that until the announcement of FutureCare in March, there had been no change to the average monthly enrolment of seniors into HIP.

"Following the announcement of FutureCare, we were approached by persons wishing to drop their present insurance to enrol in FutureCare. The programme could not financially support that intake."

He said the decision to shut HIP off to fresh senior applications was taken after the level of interest from pensioners became clear.

"As we began to shift our resources to implement FutureCare, and following the public announcement of FutureCare in March, the HIP office was inundated with applications from seniors who now wanted to be enrolled in FutureCare.

"The decision was taken to stop taking applications for HIP to focus on the implementation of FutureCare. Additionally, the budgetary allotment for the programme could not support the numbers."

Mrs. Jackson said Government should have advertised the requirements for joining HIP well before it was launched — so that pensioners in need of major medical cover but struggling to pay private monthly insurance premiums of as much as $800 had the chance to switch.

She said if it was known that the scheme could not be launched as promised "for all seniors" it should have been shelved until the funds were in place.

"It's not fair," she said. "It's like a secret society. It's not a very democratic thing. It's a terrible thing to play with old people like that. They were conned, duped, left in the dark, left twisting in the wind."

The Opposition MP said the PLP used FutureCare as one of the biggest planks in its 2007 election platform — but had fallen far short of its promise to elderly people. Mr. Bascome insisted in an editorial in the Bermuda Sun on Friday that Government had delivered on its "sweeping promise" to launch FutureCare, despite being in the middle of an international economic crisis.

Mr. Jones said about 3,100 seniors on HIP were now being transferred to FutureCare and the scheme would remain closed to most other pensioners until at least the end of phase one on April 1, 2010.

But anyone who turns 65 in 2009 — which, according to the last Census, is expected to be just under 600 people — can sign up, as can any senior qualifying for state financial assistance.

Mr. Jones said the application process for those pensioners would begin this month, with public meetings and mail outs advising them how to enrol.

Pensioners already in HIP are automatically being transferred to FutureCare, with no option to remain on the old plan.