Millions of dollars from the corporate income tax set aside for the launch of universal healthcare are in addition to revenues allocated for the reform efforts, David Burt has said.

Tabling the Pre-Budget Report in the House of Assembly, the Premier revealed that $50 million from potentially volatile CIT revenues would “help to improve services at the hospital and enable expanded coverage for preventive specialist visits to be rolled out to persons on HIP and FutureCare”.

Mr Burt, in an interview with The Royal Gazette, said more was earmarked in the Budget.

When asked if non-CIT revenues will assist with the launch of universal healthcare, he said: “Absolutely. The healthcare funds in the health budget every year is around $150 million.

“Universal healthcare, in some places, is going to replace existing plans. We are going to be putting additional funds into overall healthcare to make sure that we can advance the matters that have been laid out in the plans.

“As proposed in the Pre-Budget Report, there will be an additional $50 million that can be used to go ahead and start up those particular programmes to put inside of the new health insurance funds that will be created.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report released this month emphasised the volatile nature of the CIT revenue, describing it as a “potentially time-limited windfall”.

It said that as per Bermuda’s fiscal rules, “current spending should be covered by current revenues”.

Additionally, Darren Johnston, the head of the Tax Reform Commission, said last week that there was uncertainty about the amount received from CIT revenues and that the challenge in basing a tax strategy off corporate revenue was its inherent unpredictability.

While the CIT is expected to bring in approximately $750 million a year, Mr Johnston said “There is not one person in Bermuda who knows what that number is.”

Mr Burt said: “It doesn’t make sense to say that we’re going to have universal healthcare and not put any additional resources towards that effort.

“We’re carrying through with our promise because healthcare reform is critical, as I’ve said before, not only for individual health but also business strength and success.

“If the expectation is $750 million, that [$50 million] is a small portion of that as we go forward. But, yes, it is critical that we provide it because over time that will reduce expenses to the public purse.”

The Premier was unable to give details about whether health statistics had been gathered that were required to lay the groundwork for universal healthcare, as stipulated by Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health.

Mr Burt, who is also the Minister of Finance, said his ministry dealt with allocations and not specifics on the plans, but said an update on progress being made on universal healthcare was imminent.

He said: “What we’ve set out is the allocation of which additionally will be given to the Ministry of Health to advance these particular items to expand coverage and advance services.

“I know the Ministry of Health is continuing to work on these matters.

“They are about to unveil some more items and I would certainly encourage a follow-up with the Minister of Health specifically around the pathway to universal healthcare implementation.”