business@tribunemedia.net
Friday, June 26, 2026
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NHI payment delay warning despite $24.5m budget rise BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme has subtly warned doctors and other providers they will continue to suffer delayed payments during the upcoming fiscal year as three-quarters of the $24.5m budget increase relates to taking on the National Drug Plan. The NHI Authority, in a June 24, 2026, memorandum to all physician, laboratory and other service providers, revealed that just $6.5m of the scheme’s 2026-2027 funding increase will be used to cover existing obligations and responsibilities plus “prioritise arrears from previous fiscal periods”. The memo, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, used guarded, coded language
Three-quarters of increased funding to take on Drug Plan Only $6.5m allocated to ‘prioritise arrears from previous’ Doctors decry ‘86% of budget to providers’ as misleading to warn that Bahamian doctors and other medical professionals will likely still endure delayed compensation with payment timing dependent on when the Ministry of Finance releases the necessary funds. It conceded that these “funding constraints” will impact providers’ operations and financial status, but branded the situation as
“realities” that have to be managed. The Authority, which oversees and administers a scheme providing healthcare to more than 161,000 Bahamians annually, said payments to doctors and other providers now consume 86 percent of its annual budget. However, physicians spoken to by this newspaper described this as potentially
misleading, arguing that this number has resulted from increased volume - continually adding more providers to NHI - rather than higher payment rates which have not increased in a decade. Dr Denotrah Archer-Cartwright, a leading voice among NHI providers, also branded the Government’s touting of NHI’s expanded 2026-2027 budget as misleading on the basis that much of the increase represents a “reallocation”, rather than additional funds, due to the incorporation of the National Prescription Drug Plan (NPDP) with effect from the upcoming fiscal year. The Drug Plan, which had long resided within the National Insurance Board (NIB), was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Wellness prior to reaching its final
A BAHAMIAN fisheries chief yesterday revealed that a US customer’s alert over the Trump administration’s plan to impose 12.5 percent tariffs on this nation’s exports had “kind of opened my eyes” to the scale of the damage that could be inflicted on the industry. Adrian LaRoda, the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA) president, told Tribune Business that the call by Joshua Johnson, president and owner of West Palm Beach-based Johnson Seafood Company, to exempt
Bahamian spiny tail lobster and stone crab from punitive US trade sanctions had revealed 50 percent of local fisheries harvester and processors are involved in supplying just this one business. Explaining that this exposes the widespread harm Bahamian fisheries will likely suffer if the Trump administration proceeds, which it says is a response to this nation’s failure to ban goods made with forced labour, Mr LaRoda said that Mr Johnson’s intervention has “opened the door” for the sector to collaborate with its US customers in opposing the tariff move.
Senator: No tariffs to protect Golden Yolk BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister has asserted that the Government has no plans to impose tariffs on imported eggs to protect Bahamian producers as their products are already competitively priced and do not require additional support. The issue arose during Senate debate on the 2026-2027 Budget, when Opposition Senator Rick Fox questioned whether the Government would consider taxing imported eggs as domestic production expands through the Golden Yolk programme.
JEROME FITZGERALD Mr Fox, while praising the initiative, suggested tariffs could encourage consumers to purchase locally-produced eggs and support Bahamian farmers as the country works to reduce its dependence on
IMPORT - See Page B2
Debt conversion’s $124m ‘won’t fully close the gap’ BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS was yesterday said to be laying the foundation for how conservation groups will access and use funding generated by the country's $300m debt-for-nature conversion with officials working to identify staffing and capacity needs for marine protected areas (MPAs). Speaking during the Bahamas Project for Marine Conservation (BPMC) monitoring and
evaluation training workshop, Charles Hamilton, climate change adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister, said the exercise is intended to help agencies determine what resources and personnel are needed to effectively manage and protect these resources. The workshop brought together representatives from organisations involved in marine conservation, including wardens and agencies responsible for overseeing protected areas throughout The Bahamas.
CONSERVE - See Page B4
DONALD TRUMP “I was hearing on the periphery that there were some concerns from our US buyers,” he told this newspaper. “They know they will have supply, but it was a
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JONATHAN ERIC ‘PLAYER’ GARDINER
Drug accused admits PPP and Carmichael builder his ‘business’ $20,000 of seized $30,000 from Top Notch Builders account Withdrawal slip names Jonathan Gardiner as account signatory Sands: ‘Massive ramifications’ demand ‘deep dive’ investigation BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
matter of them being able to make a good profit from our supplies. Now your article has opened the door, I’m going to be interested in working with and talking to our US partners to see what support and lobbying we can get on their end. “It opens the door to ask our US partners to do lobbying on their side. What affects us affects them way more. They will bear the brunt of higher tariffs and sometimes it will be difficult to pass that on to customers through higher prices. The door has been opened, and we are open to collaborating with our US
AN ACCUSED Bahamian drug trafficker has admitted in legal documents that the construction company which developed both the Government’s $34m Eight Mile Rock administrative complex and flagship Carmichael Village affordable housing project is his “business”. Jonathan Eric Gardiner, also known as ‘Player’, in filings with the southern New York federal court produced a Bahamian bank slip purporting to confirm that $20,000 of the $30,000 in cash he possessed when his plane crashed on May 12, the date of the general election, had been withdrawn from an account belonging to Top Notch Builders. And, in accompanying legal papers supporting his failed bid to be released on bond from US custody, Mr Gardiner and his attorneys affirmed that the funds had come from his “business bank account” one day earlier on May 11. The admissions leave little doubt that the accused narcotics smuggler, who has a past US conviction for similar offences, is Top Notch’s real owner and control person, with signatory authority on the company’s bank
LEVIES - See Page B5
REVELATIONS - See Page B4
COMPENSATE - See Page B5
‘Eyes opened’ on Trump tariffs harm for fisheries BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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