It is with some unhappiness that The Royal Gazette today publishes a story revealing that the late Tourism Minister David Allen was allowed into a Government health scheme at the last minute to cover his medical bills.

Some people will feel that this is will be a blot on the memory of a man who undeniably worked long and hard to serve Bermuda and its tourism industry.

Nor is there any feeling that Mr. Allen should not have received good medical care in the weeks before his death and that his friends and colleagues would have felt duty-bound to ensure that he received very comfort and support possible.

However, that does not remove the public's right to know how and why its money is spent, or whether public servants are held to the same standards as others.

And in this case, serious questions have been raised about whether or not the correct policies were followed in granting Mr. Allen membership of a health insurance scheme that he had not joined before he became seriously ill.

Insurance, at least in the private sector, works on the assumption that when you are well you pay premiums against the possibility that you may one day become ill and require your insurer to pay out possibly large amounts of money to ensure you get the treatment you need.

And insurance companies require that healthy people pay premiums against that eventuality and so that they will have adequate money to pay the claims they receive from other patients.

It is, at its heart, a fairly simple concept. But it is doomed to failure if these principles are not followed and people are allowed to join the insurer as, or after, they become ill. If that were to happen on a widespread scale, it would mean that the insurer would be paying out claims constantly and would have no money coming in. That would result in the insurer's bankruptcy in short order.

By allowing Mr. Allen to join the scheme after he fell ill, the Government has set a dangerous precedent. Any MP or Minister may now fail to pay insurance confident that when the time comes, they will be "looked after".

That is not a right, incidentally, that any other employed person has paying health insurance is mandatory for all employed people, and that is the cornerstone of Bermuda's health care system.

It would appear that this was just the concern that members of the committee that oversees the Government Employees Health Insurance scheme had when they were asked to put Mr. Allen on the scheme. The Royal Gazette understands that some threatened to resign over the issue, although they later changed their minds.

It is also alleged that Finance Minister Eugene Cox ordered that Mr. Allen be put on the scheme. If that is true, it is very worrying. As Finance Minister, Mr. Cox has responsibility for the financial security of the scheme and it seems to have been an irresponsible move, regardless of the undoubtedly humane motives that may have compelled it.

One source told The Royal Gazette: "One of the criticisms was that no politician should be automatically allowed in just on the basis of who they are."

That goes to the heart of the issue. The public has the right to know exactly what went on.