Dear Sir,

The dentist Ronda James wrote an excellent Letter to the Editor entitled “Health plan grandstanding” published on Tuesday, which, among other things, made a connection between the coronavirus crisis and the proposed healthcare reforms advocated by David Burt, the Premier, and his Minister of Health, Kim Wilson.

Those who pay attention to American politics will understand that present government strategy now follows the methodology of the manipulative Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, who once famously said “never let a good crisis go to waste”.

In other words, let’s fool the voters when their attention is focused on something else.

Ms Wilson and the Premier are obviously big fans of “Hizzonner” the mayor, as they seek to use the Covid-19 crisis surreptitiously to resurrect the proposed government health plan, which made headlines a few weeks ago.

Most Bermudians recognise that the Bermuda health system, while having flaws, has served the public well for many years. They support reforms, but not an ill thought-out transformation and government takeover.

Leading politicians in government wish to see our present system of healthcare thrown out, and their flawed health plan replace it — for reasons that have nothing to do with reforming or improving healthcare.

Should Ms Wilson and Mr Burt succeed in scuppering our well-functioning healthcare system, the Bermuda public can expect at least five results:

• Doctors, dentists, nurses and other healthcare professionals effectively will become civil servants, with all that that entails

• Our healthcare will degenerate and resemble the Post Office or the Ministry of Education, with all the charm and efficiency we have experienced from them in recent years

• Public service unions will call the shots just as they do in most government departments

• The costs of healthcare will soar not only because government invariably brings higher costs, but because healthcare premiums will be used as a form of taxation to pay off political cronies

• Soaring costs will mean that politicians will determine who gets what in healthcare. If you are old, hip and knee replacements will be determined by Ms Wilson and her political friends — and do not even think of obtaining expensive, long-term cancer care

Readers should pay close attention to what Dr James said in her letter. No one should be under the medical thumb of politicians such as Kim Wilson and David Burt, who will have the power to say “your healthcare depends on how you vote”.

ROBERT STEWART

Devonshire