Health Tax proposed at St Catherine public consultation

KINGSTON, Jamaica  — St Catherine residents have recommended the implementation of a health tax, similar to the education tax, as means of generating revenue to finance the public health system, the Health Ministry reports.

The suggestion was among proposals coming out of a consultation on public health financing, held Tuesday (July 9), on the grounds of the Spanish Town Hospital.The consultation, the eighth in a series organised by the Ministry of Health, forms part of efforts by the Government to review the no user fees policy and examine options to finance the health sector.An increase in the levy on cigarette and tobacco companies, as well as a tax on “junk food” were also proposed at the St Catherine meeting. Participants also proposed that the elderly, the unemployed and persons under 18 years should be exempt from paying user fees at public health facilities. Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, in welcoming the suggestions, stressed that whatever model of financing adopted for the health system, must be one that is not only sustainable, but also provides for a balance between access and quality care.“There is no point in saying we want to create access at the expense of quality,” Dr Ferguson said.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Health Tax proposed at St Catherine public consultation