• 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 — 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".

• April 1, 2009 — HIP for seniors 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 the Minister's March 11 announcement and an influx of calls from pensioners wanting to sign up.

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 tells us that the requirement that seniors be in HIP in order to qualify for FutureCare "was not communicated to the public". He adds: "Nor was it our intent to do so."

• June 18, 2009 — Opposition Senator Michael Dunkley suggests $10 million spent on 'dolphin mitigation' (at the new cruise ship pier in Dockyard) 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 — 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 now find themself unable to afford the private options, should be able to enrol in HIP by late November.