The Shadow Health Minister has accused Government of "playing fast and loose" with seniors over the promise of healthcare for all.

Louise Jackson said a lack of information over eligibility and enrolment for the FutureCare scheme has left many pensioners "confused and anxious".

FutureCare is managed by the Health Insurance Department. Government has allocated $10 million for the first year of the scheme. By April there were 3,100 seniors registered.

To be eligible, seniors must be registered with HIP (Government's Health Insurance Plan) or be in receipt of financial assistance.

In April, Colin Anderson of the Health Insurance Department said the programme was to be rolled out on a gradual basis, with a quarterly review by civil servants.

"Because of the global recession we are seeing and this extraordinary thing Government has done to assist our seniors, Government has to walk the line with a balancing act," he said at the time.

"FutureCare will be rolled out after year one. We will increase it slowly. This is a huge initiative for Government and there's lots of things we need to sort out as we go through."

Mr. Anderson told The Royal Gazette: "We need to have one year of business to work out whether proposals will be financially viable."

Mrs. Jackson however, accused Government of keeping seniors in the dark through a lack of public information.

She said in a statement yesterday: "The Government owes senior citizens an immediate and complete explanation of FutureCare and how it will work for them.

"Many seniors remain confused and anxious about how the programme will work for them and, indeed, whether they will even be eligible for it. This is especially true for seniors who have been denied access to FutureCare.

"The confusion and anxiety stems from Premier [Ewart] Brown's election-time promise to 'provide every Bermudian above the age of 65 with guaranteed healthcare' for the remainder of their lives.

"Unfortunately that promise foundered on the fact that the Premier's promise was made without a plan and without any understanding of how it was going to be financed.

"The gap between promise and reality is significant: If the Government was going to provide FutureCare to all seniors as promised, it would have had to commit approximately $65 million to the programme this year and, at a minimum, every year going forward.

"This year's Budget allocated approximately $10 million to FutureCare. In the roughest calculation that means more than 80 percent of seniors are excluded from its benefits.

"In moving its own economic concerns ahead of its promise to seniors, the Government, to reduce the cash demands of FutureCare, cynically under-promoted eligibility requirements and enrolment deadlines. This had the effect of minimising the applicants.

"The fallout from these manipulations has been devastating to many seniors who were never told of the criteria for joining FutureCare but who believed in the promise that they would be getting comprehensive healthcare coverage."

Mrs. Jackson gave the example of senior Brenda Warwick, 66, who retired in July, thus losing her healthcare coverage.

"She found she could not afford the going rates of $680 to $1,027 a month for private coverage and went to FutureCare, which costs $260 a month," said Mrs. Jackson.

"She was denied FutureCare because she did not belong to HIP before a certain date in the past year and because she is not indigent. Brenda is an example of a senior who has been blocked by restrictions designed to limit access to FutureCare.

"She is a cancer survivor of 12 years. She is one of many who believed in the Government's promise but who have been left without any healthcare."

Mrs. Jackson said: "As Shadow Minister of Health, I have a responsibility to make sure that the Government provides effective services to the public in its areas of responsibility. I have watched the FutureCare situation unfold now across the two years since the Government's irresponsible election time promise.

"The onus remains on the Government to deliver the health services to seniors as promised and to stop playing fast and loose with them. I call on them to explain clearly the programme going forward and take whatever steps necessary to stop shutting them out of a programme that was specifically offered them."

Mrs. Jackson said: "Healthcare programmes need to be sustainable. They have to work from year to year. They have to be based on a thorough understanding of the numbers involved over time. As a Country, we simply cannot afford universal guaranteed healthcare for all."