By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The Government “can’t just tax” to finance National Health Insurance (NHI), a businessman is arguing, but must instead consult the private sector and tackle the wellness crisis via more creative means.

Ethan Quant, Lifestyles Digital Media Group’s founder and chief executive, said he does not “have a general problem with the overall concept of employers contributing to NHI” after Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, last week confirmed that legislation debated in the House of Assembly paves the way for companies and the self-employed to pay contributions to fund the scheme.

However, he asked what incentives and concessions will be offered to ease the financial burden of running a business if entrepreneurs were asked to pay another new tax, fee or levy. “Case in point; all of my equipment that I got to bring in, I’m paying 35, 40, 50 percent duty,” Mr Quant added.

“I got a cost on things to build out my studio. So there are other costs that I have to pay just for being an employer. So what can we do on that front?” Mr Quant, who previously ran an employee wellness consultancy that Lifestyle Digital Media Group was born from, is married to fitness personality Dekel Quant [Bowflex Barbie].

He was also a consultant under the previous administration for the Ministry of Health and Wellness, where he aided a three-month pilot initiative for the National Wellness Programme. “So, I’m very familiar with this,” Mr Quant added. “Which is why I can tell you: I think you can’t just tax.

“You can’t just say ‘Okay, well, we’re running out of money. We don’t have enough money to fund the programme so we’re just going to tax the people who are actually trying to move the country forward’.

“Small businesses in every other first world economy drive the economy of the nation. And so you have entrepreneurs, and instead of just taxing them, which is going to put a burden on the economy, you aren’t doing anything to address the actual problem. Why do we have such a heavy burden on the health care system?” he asked.

“And so my thing is that you are just trying to go for the easy pickings and just just hit the people that you quote, unquote think could afford it. But you’ve got all these fast food restaurants coming in, you’ve got the soda companies coming in, you’ve got all these things and there isn’t a tax on that.”

A health and wellness component is currently incorporated in the employee programme at Lifestyles Digital Media Group. Mr Quant believes healthier employees provide better performance in the workplace, adding: “It’s ingrained into our culture.” He questioned what incentives would be provided for employers who already include health and wellness as a priority within their business.

Mr Quant said obesity must also be tackled as opposed to simply taxing employers. He spoke at a recent event that sought to promote the idea children should drink more water, adding: “When you go to a beverage station that they had servicing the actual event, there was no water there. They had juice and soda.

“The reason there’s such a burden on the healthcare system is because we’re generally, as Bahamians, an unhealthy population. Just taxing the employers isn’t going to make The Bahamas a healthier place. So what other measures does the Government want to put in place to address the overarching problem?

“This is the reality because you’re saying one thing but, at the event where you’re addressing the issue, and one of the issues you’re saying is that we want to make it healthier for our kids, and our kids should drink more water, you actually don’t have water to be served at the actual event.”

Mr Quant voiced hope that using employers to help fund NHI would be put out to public consultation first, giving the private sector a chance to provide feedback.

“I would really hope that the Government, before they roll this thing out, they really have a serious dialogue with the private sector, even if it’s through the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, so that we could actually have an opportunity to speak,” Mr Quant said.

“And then also have a third party really make this thing a true public-private partnership (PPP). Engage people in the wellness space who aren’t within the Government . We get a lot of professionals at the wellness space who are doing a lot of great things, Bowflex Barbie, my wife, included, who are like years ahead of everything else that the Government is doing.

“She has an app that anybody can access, that you can get nutrition information, you can track your food. And that’s Bahamian. I have no problem helping out, but I really think that just taxing employers on NHI is not going to reduce the burden of NHI,” he added. 

“What’s going to reduce the burden of the cost of NHI and the Government is to help the country get healthier. How do we do that? You do that by engaging other stakeholders on how we can make ourselves healthy as a country.”