Update: Healthcare payment proposal shot down before it reached the Cabinet - Gonzi

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi insisted this afternoon that a proposal to introduce health care fees had been shot down by a Cabinet committee before it even reached the Cabinet proper.

Dr Gonzi was replying to a press conference held in the morning by Labour leader Alfred Sant who had said that a Cabinet memo dated December 2004 showed that the Cabinet agreed in principle on the introduction of payment for health services but felt that such payments “should not be introduced for the moment because of political underpinnings.”

Dr Sant said the report had been requested by the Cabinet itself after the issue was discussed the previous July.

Dr Sant said the Prime Minister had so far repeatedly denied that the PN government had discussed or planned to introduce payment for health service. The evidence, he argued, showed that Dr Gonzi had “lied” a factor which also raised the issue of public trust.

In his press conference Dr Sant showed a number of video clips showing Dr Gonzi denying that the matter had been discussed. He noted, however, that the latest PN clip said that health services are free, not, Dr Sant said, that they will remain free.

He said the December 2004 report spoke on the financial burden imposed by the health service and discussed ways how it could be eased, such as a contributory scheme or an increase in VAT. The report said the Cabinet agreed in principle that a payment should be introduced.

Dr Sant said the people should not be deceived any longer, and Dr Gonzi’s denials so far were unbecoming in a true democracy.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in a reaction this afternoon strongly denied that this issue was ever discussed by the Cabinet.

The truth, he said, was that some proposals were presented to the Cabinet but the Cabinet refused to discuss them unless they were backed by a proper policy document. It was this policy document, entitled Health Financing Reform: Policy Proposal, December 2004, that Dr Sant had issued earlier in the day.

The document was presented to the Cabinet's Social Affairs Committee where the proposal to introduce fees on healthcare was shot down immediately and never even made it to the Cabinet proper.

Dr Gonzi said the proof that the Nationalist Party did not intend to impose healthcare fees could be seen in the fact that no such reform was introduced in the past four years. The fact of the matter, Dr Gonzi said, was that when faced with a financial crisis, Dr Sant imposed a 50c fee on medical prescriptions while the present government had managed to bring about a turnaround of the country's finances without imposing any healthcare charges.

Dr Gonzi stressed that the PN government had no intention of imposing charges on health care.

The Office of the Prime Minister said the claim in the report that the Cabinet agreed in principle on the introduction of fees was a misrepresentation of the Cabinet brief given to the experts to prepare the policy report.