A packed public meeting called by 'a group of concerned residents' at the Manx Legion Cub Douglas yesterday (Monday 08.03.10) ended with a unanimous show of hands in favour of further action.
It reads:
"This meeting requests and requires the Chief Minister and Government of the Isle of Man to defer the closure of the Reciprocal Health Agreement for a maximum of 6 months to enable negotiations with the next UK Government and in that period the Isle of Man Government fund Manx residents receiving NHS Treatment in the UK and UK residents visiting the Isle of Man. And further as a contingency, to develop a travel levy scheme for universal Insurance."
As from 1st April health cover for those travelling to and from the U K would need to be underwritten by the Manx government until October 2010.
This last ditch attempt to change the minds of Ministers deserves your support with a show of 'people power' at Tynwald public gallery when the debate is called for at 2.30 p.m. non Tuesday 16th March. A packed gallery can show how much ordinary people care about this issue and influence the vote.
As usual government will have the built in advantage of 10 ministerial votes - the 'block vote' - and a lot will depend on whether DHSS political members Malarkey and Henderson continue to support their department.
The votes of 5 LegCo members is also required. David Callister has already declared in favour of deferral so where will the 4 other votes come from?
Please show you care by turning up at Tynwald 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday March 16th - who knows you may enjoy the experience!
