population is ageing, with a greater proportion of the population either at retirement age or are rapidly approaching it.

This will create at least two major cost burdens for Bermuda. One is the provision of a reasonable pension for retirees. The other is the provision of adequate health care.

Both will be increasingly costly. Retirees who move from group health insurance to individual insurance and retirement will be familiar with the shock that comes with the news of what they have to pay for health care. For those who cannot afford to pay, the burden will fall on the taxpayer.

Government must start putting aside money now to provide for those people.

The second and equally serious problem concerns pensions. Mandatory pension schemes have only come into effect relatively recently and many people in their 40s and 50s who have not been contributing to pension funds previously may be unable to save enough through their pension scheme alone to assure themselves of an adequate income after retirement. Even those who have been in pension schemes for their whole lives may find that they do not have enough and will quickly see that the Government pension is a very inadequate supplement.

Again, Government may need to ensure that there is money available to assist those who run into difficulties and do not have sufficient support to survive.

So where is the Government? In the Budget, taxes went up and spending rose, but there was no money set aside for a cost of living increase for Government pensions. Since then, retired Policemen have filed a writ alleging that pension money they are entitled to has been held back. And now there are reports that retired civil servants, who receive pensions from the Superannuation fund, have been denied increases they should have had nine months ago. And the Hospitals Board has told nurses that it cannot afford to give them the pay increase they were promised.

Government said in the Budget it was raising taxes and increasing spending to meet the social needs of Bermudians. Yet Government is failing to meet the basic needs of senior citizens who helped to build this Country and appears to be reneging on its current commitments. Government needs to put aside funds now to support the needs of its current and future senior citizens. Failure to do so now will create an intolerable burden later.