The Shadow Health Minister has attacked the National Health Plan, claiming it leaves the public with “little understanding of how universal health care access will be structured, financed, and administered”.Louise Jackson yesterday expressed concerns on the ambitious project, which sets out to provide universal health care to all residents, based on ability to pay, by 2013. She said all Bermudians wanted access to quality health care, but lambasted the paper for not telling people how this would be done. “The only section of the paper that is detailed is the Well Bermuda Strategy which most of the public fully embraces,” she said.Yesterday a Health Ministry spokesman said more concrete details would be released at a later stage, once the basic direction is agreed upon. But Mrs Jackson told The Royal Gazette: “Given the Government’s abysmal record with the unfair, unsustainable, unaffordable FutureCare health plan for approximately 7,000 seniors, it gives the public doubts that Government can create a plan for about 65,000 people.“The administration costs for FutureCare are high and the efficiency poor. Only a portion of seniors have opted for FutureCare because of costs and many in the age range of 65 to 69 years were not allowed entry until April of 2011.”She said the Plan raised more questions than answers and said: “The public are frustrated. These details are only a few that must be answered before there is buy-in from the public.”Some questions that still remain are:n Where is the financial structure for the public to assess?n How much it will cost them and can they keep their private insurance?n Will there still be up-front fees charged by doctors?Mrs Jackson said people also need to know:n What steps will be made to assess and bring down costs at the hospital which is 40 percent of the cost of health care in Bermuda?n How will this impact employers?n What does this mean for our international business?n How will seniors who have special problems be dealt with?n What does “medically- necessary” mean for overseas care?Bermuda Democratic Alliance health spokesman, Michael Branco, said they were also “concerned that any new programme administrated by the current Government could have spiralling costs”.“More genuine consultation should be done with the Opposition, practitioners and other key stakeholders to ensure that healthcare reform is done correctly.“At this stage the initial information has given us a starting point for the discussion, but we will need to review the financial models to get a better handle on the costs for people and the sustainability of the programme to ensure it is at a minimum just as cost effective as the current health care model.”He said people needed more details on what is covered in the Plan and what the financial burden will be for those who opt for additional medical coverage from insurance companies.“Furthermore we would like to know the details on the caps on contributions to ensure that upper income earners are not deterred from working in Bermuda because they have to bear a larger portion of the healthcare costs. In short, we need to see more detail and want to ensure this very important reform is not rushed.”Mr Branco said the BDA supported the concept of universal access to healthcare for all Bermudians, particularly those unable to afford it now. But claimed that countries able to provide 100 percent coverage were generally subject to “greater regulation of services, reduced choice, rationing of provision of services and a tax based system to fund healthcare”.“It is difficult to envisage how universal access can be achieved without either increase in the cost of provision of the health care service, or some trade off in terms of speed of access and choice,” he added.For more information on the National Health Plan visit www.gov.bm.