Agreed, very good points Mr. Kerr.

Both Hubert and Dr. Minnis are too old to be a political party leader. The Bahamas needs some new and fresh blood.

The problem is that the good doctor seems to be good at backroom tactics but is lousy in public.

If Dr. Minnis continues to lead I will certainly not be voting fnm. i intend to vote and it won't be yellow so I guess Dr. Minnis will lead me to the DNA or to Mr. Moss.

I can only go by what I have seen in the papers. If Mrs. Butler-Turner was leading I would give the FNM a good look as long as she had at least 20 candidates under the age of 45.

I am not an FNM but I appears to me that they would be better off with Loretta Butler-Turner as leader.

Government, please put a stop on all this NHI now, and set out a two year consultation process, a genuine open and transparent process with all the parties (doctors, insurance, health providers, pharmacies, general public, suppliers, foreign hospitals in the States, Canada and Cuba, etc.).

We are talking about the health of Bahamian Citizens.

This is far too important for stupid politics.

If you don't like Rufa that is not an immigration problem. How would you deal with Rufa if he were a Bahamian?

You can't run crying to immigration as a child runs to mummy. That is not what immigration is for. If he is convicted of something then it is a matter for immigration, but not before.

If he has done some corporate misdeed, that is between you and him, not immigration.

My understanding is that this agency has existed for years so I am sure they already have all the info on us.

All you need to do is see what has happened in any enterprise that the government has been involved in. They have all lost money and huge amounts of money. Between Batelco, Water & Sewerage, Bahamasair, ZNS, the Hotel Corp, BEC, and so on, they have probably lost over $1 Billion Dollars.

If you like the idea of government owned enterprises, the only place left is North Korea.

That is why I like Tal's idea of subsidies. $100,000,000.00 would pay the full insurance policy for 20,000 Bahamians. That is only the sum the PHA wastes each year. Shut down Bahamasair (where we the taxpayer loses an average of $42,000 a year for each of the 700 employees) and you have another 6,000 Bahamians covered.

Now make that a 70% subsidy and you have covered most of those who are uninsured. The rest could be paid for as we are currently doing.

There are so many ways that this can be done at very little or no cost but the politicians, well they are politicians and they just tax and spend until it dries up.

NHI may just push us over the edge to a down grade, devaluation and the massive unemployment that will follow (look at what happened in Greece). Like us they never thought it would happen.

Tal, the reason I want to tax those foods are to make the better foods cheaper and more available. Even at todays prices I can buy flank steak and cut it into strips, which I then take to work along with my fresh tomatoes, green pepper, celery and lettuce. When I divided the cost over the week it was less that I would spend if I went to Kentucky or Wendy's (about $5.00).

My point is that the same families can eat a more healthy diet. If we have a more healthy nation we could, in fact, afford a very good health system.

I seldom get sick so my health Insurance (yes I have one, just) does well out of me.

With respect to free lunch, only to those who truly need it. We are already fortunate that our education costs, even the private schools, is cheap compared to other nations.
Check out the type of cars some of these so called poor people drive, or go by their house and see the big flat screen (I still don't have one, but my children went to a private school and got a good grades). Are they really in need or are they looking for someone else to pay so they can enjoy their earthly treasures.