While former EU Health Commissioner, and former PN Deputy Prime Minister, Tonio Borg seems to believe that eventually fees would need to be introduced for healthcare services in Malta, the PN remains steadfast, stating that they are committed to free healthcare.
International new site Politico ran an article recently about obesity in Malta, stating that “the island holds the unenviable record of being the fattest country in the EU. According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, a quarter of Maltese adults are obese.”
The article goes on to say that obesity in Malta cost the island €36 million in 2016, counting both direct and indirect costs, with that amount expecting to increase if the obesity rates do not change over the coming years. “Given that Malta spent some €630 million on health care in 2015, based on OECD and World Bank data, the €36 million price tag translates as 5 percent of its annual health care costs.”
It is in this context, that the former Health Commissioner (who is also a former PN Deputy Prime Minister) said that “Everything is free in Malta.”
“The time will come when someone will have to introduce fees [for health care services] in Malta,” he said. Dr Borg told Politico that the island’s two major political parties have always shied away from charging fees because the political cost would be enormous, yet Dr Borg said that this reluctance may have to give.
According to the article, Dr Borg deplored that one burger is cheaper than three apples in Malta, and he also said that taxation of unhealthy food hits consumption but it takes courage from governments to do that.
The Malta Independent sought a reaction from the PN to the comments made by one of its former deputy leaders. The PN were asked whether they agreed with Dr Borg that health fees would eventually need to be introduced, whether they would introduce such fees, and whether there should be a tax on fast food.
A spokesman for PN Leader Simon Busuttil said: "For the PN, an essential part of the social contract in Malta is universal access to free public health care. This is why people pay their taxes - to get good public services when they need. And this is what the PN is committed to. At the moment, this access is being rolled back by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's policies. For example, thousands of elderly people and people with a disability have to pay for essential medicines that they use every day. And people in Gozo have woken up to discover that their public hospital in Gozo is no longer public but has suddenly become a private hospital by stealth. The PN will address these injustices in its proposals on health and its proposals will retain its long-standing policy of universal access to free public health services as its foundation.”
The PN made it clear that it wants healthcare to remain free, however refrained from stating whether it is for or against an increase in tax on fast food.
Tonio Borg is still very much involved in the PN, forming part of a committee chaired by retired judge Giovanni Bonello to come up with proposals on party financing. The committee has been tasked with proposing “radical changes to Malta’s political system."