And just who does the industry expect will pay? Maybe they didnt get the memo that 17000 former workers filed for unemployment, not including hotel workers! But greedy Pattick Ward, et al, do not care. They just want their money. Shame, shame.

There's going to be lots of situations like this due to Corona Virus. Rent, insurance etc. It is what it is. Brave decision by the Government!

I predict that inflation will go to a whole new level after this. So many businesses are taking hits with just a few rich whites getting even richer in the midst of this crisis. Insurance premiums are already high with Dorian as the excuse. The government is just giving them an excuse to go up to recoup their loses. Great idea with possibly nasty implications.

Please note that contrary to popular belief, not all "whites" are rich just as not all "blacks" are poor. The days of such gross simplification are long past. And, by the way, has anyone heard anything about the fate of Bahamasair and Western Air related to the resumption of air service to the Family Islands?

Maybe it's time for them to thier part for society, and they just getting the hint.

I honestly don't understand this situation. How can you tell a company pay claims and tell the claimants don't pay any of your premiums? Guess next they will order landlords not to charge rent and people live rent free?
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Each action has a consequence. If the government wants to be brave, then go after the predatory banking industry. Place an order that banks still provide mortgage coverage, but charge no interest for the next 60 day and people don't have to pay mortgage.

Excellent points. But now you opened Pandora's Box.....for every dollar in loans, Billions of dollars in loans use and mandates that LOAN CUSTOMERS ARE REQUIRED TO PLEDGE AND ASSIGNED LIFE INSURANCES AS COLLATERAL SECURITY FOR LOANS....COMPREHENSIVE CAR INSURANCES....COMPREHENSIVE HOMEOWNERS KNSURANCES ALL WITH POLICIES ASSIGNED TO BANK/LENDER AS MORTAGEE with in event of calamity the lender gets proceeds of policy to repay the loan. There are exceptions in certain loans. Lots of insurances out there...Lawyers insurances, indemnities medical, aircraft, boats, shipping, just about every professionals insurances....

The entire Insurance Industry needs to suck this Covid -19 situation up and take their losses like every body else. Over the years they have cause many claimants much pain, and sorrow with sub standard payments and inflated deductible payments and they always find some find print in their contracts to justify paying less. Take this covert-19 body blow like every one It will not last forever. No industry is immune from this situation

Ditto that @realitycheck242.

The very greedy insurers are naturally upset that their license to steal will not yield the super profits they've grown accustomed to receiving by royally shafting policyholders one way or another.

Now maybe the ideal time for government to think more about moving towards a single payer universal healthcare system.

Agreed. And, yes to single payer universal health care. There is NO reason health care should be a for-profit enterprise. Wanna make money? Do real work and produce something.

So are we saying people should do business for free? I agree the insurance company should take their losses, but are they to provide services for all customers and they have no obligation to pay for those services? Note, if the government can do this to the insurance company, how soon can they do it to us and say they will not provide light, or water, but we must still pay the bill. Would we be okay with that?

You will soon have no light from BPL....trust me. And it won't be too long before you have no water from W&S Corp.

The bill for decades of ever increasing corruption and incompetence throughout government, the civil workforce and all government controlled enterprises is finally being tabled for payment and the piggy bank was long ago emptied by the now very wealthy few.

"Over the years they have caused many claimants much pain, and sorrow...."....much more true because the Govt have taken nations money belonging even to persons, elderly, children, poor, children on lunch meals, etcetc.... nothing to do with the CLICO company... to pay the persons connected to CLICO a company governed by its Board of Directors, owner, management....and whomsoever are Regulatory body sticking the public with this.

Excuse me posting again so soon but being at home most of the day is very difficult. It appears that many people both inside and outside of government have not quite realized the extent of this unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves. I fear that numerous uncoordinated measures implemented to alleviate one perceived problem could lead to unforeseen consequences in other areas. There is little doubt that a prolonged period of lockdown will result in severe levels of unemployment from which it will be difficult to recover. As a result, our over reliance on tourism will finally be seen as an inherent weakness in the economy even by those who failed to recognise this reality earlier.

Could not agree more.

I am comparing the actions of the Bahamian government to those of Cayman (Compass Compass) and the Turks and Caicos (Turks and Caicos Weekly) both newspapers can be received online. Cayman and TCI are colonies of the UK and therefore their governments are run much more efficiently and correctly.

We are all doing the same thing except for the Bahamian governments propensity to questionably and probably unconstitutionally fiddle with private agreements at worse and at best to rule in a dictatorial and none consultative manner.

With the BEC Rate Bond, which thankfully failed, the government was attempting to force BEC customers to assume $650 million of BEC debt. This is legally impossible under contract law because BEC clients signed up to purchase electricity from BEC and not to assume their debt for zero consideration. Did these guys take Intro to Law 101 in College?

The issue with the insurance companies is far more interesting because I believe they can do it under the Emergency Powers Act. In fact they can do almost anything under the act which is why Cayman probably didn't use it to enforce their "soft" and "hard" curfews. TCI used the Emergency Powers Act.

My fear is what private property is next for the government to "take over" under the Act with zero consultation with steak holders?

Health care now, more than ever, should be seen as a basic human right. The inability for anyone to access health care puts us all at risk, and exponentially inflates the true total health care costs, both public and private, as this pandemic clearly shows.. The private insurance game is rigged and does not produce any better health outcomes. Health insurance companies make their money denying people needed treatments and drugs. Who hasn't heard these heartbreaking stories? Get real, or get Christian if you like, and get profit out of health care. Let the insurance companies find a more honest line of work.
The comparison to Super Value is not correct. It would be if you had to pay for your groceries 5, maybe 10 years in advance. And then, the manager could tell you what you can and cannot get that week. Perhaps the good that will come out of this situation is a well needed reset. Back to basics maybe. Try going for a week without food. Now try going for a week without insurance. Apples and oranges. All of the private health insurance companies employees, the thousands of them, could actually help produce things of value for this country. The insurance industry merely takes money out of the real economy and shifts it, plus profits, into what, please tell me? I understand the value of having a service industry, however a disproportionate amount of money is changing hands without true value or a product being created. The global taxpayer has, and is, bailing out these massive companies that have been looted by their managers. We already have socialism. It is at work with every government bailout a company benefits from. Now we need that same type of thinking, that benefits the individual.

Obviously the government are now liable for the premiums. We will have to defer these costs on the back end with taxes or higher fees. If the industry has an IOU from the government via the emergency order, they can then raise cash in the market to meet their expenses and their liabilities, as they become due..

Rubbish!