Healthcare sales tax ‘is a false economy’

Friday 21st July 2006, 12:00AM BST.

A SALES tax on healthcare will stop people going to their doctors and mean a vastly increased health bill for the Island, according to the Health Minister.

Senator Stuart Syvret has labelled a charge on health as a false economy that would stop poor people getting preventative health care and inflate the health burden by a disproportionate amount.

He said the less well-off already visit their doctors less because they have to pay for the visits, unlike in the UK, but that increasing the price would mean an unhealthier population, on top of the burden caused by an ageing society.

‘One of the reasons we have to be very careful about taxing healthcare is that it is already the case that poorer social groups have worse health and poorer standards of healthcare,’ said Senator Syvret.

‘That is a sociological feature in the UK and most jurisdictions.’

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