WHERE ARE WE ON NATIONAL INSURANCE?

National Insurance has been the subject of debate all week long, since the Minister for National Insurance Alfred Sears announced that by 1 July 2024, there will be an increase in the NIB payments of 1.5 percent and every two years after that of 1.5 percent.  The Office of the Prime Minister later indicated that the continued increases may not follow since the Fund may perform in the future better than it is now.  There are some hard facts though.  The birth rate in the population is declining.  People are living longer.  The premise of the Fund’s survival is that there will be more young people to pay into the Fund than old people who have to be supported by the Fund.  Those two facts quite apart from the underfunding for years dictate that bitter medicine is necessary to protect the solvency of the Fund.  We have been warned that without action the Fund will go broke in 2028. You would think that the FNM would find a way to join hands with the Government and welcome the intention to fix the Fund. Not a chance.  Instead, they are calling for Alfred Sears’ resignation.  What a bunch of silly billies from the people who helped to bankrupt the Fund, did nothing to save it while in office, but now want to have all the say about what should or should not happen.