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by pltm
(PLTM) - The mounting pressure from residents over the exorbitant prices at the counter of local healthcare providers, has forced the National Democratic Party (NDP) administration to make a tough decision, agreeing yesterday, November 14 to make changes to the controversial mandatory National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
Last evening during a community meeting held at the Enis Adams Primary School, Second District Representative and backbencher, Hon. Melvin 'Mitch' Turnbull said that the agreement to tweak NHI came during the weekly caucus meeting held earlier that day.
Hon. Turnbull, who spoke openly in September about the abuse of the system by local healthcare providers, boasted that he was right about them taking advantage of NHI.
He told residents that while there are good things about NHI to benefit those persons who did not have access to health insurance, there are things that need to be fixed.
"There are also things that are in the system that the law doesn’t allow us to do, but after six months we could review. So there are tweaks and adjustments that need to be made. And so we sat in a meeting this afternoon with the Hon. (Ronnie) Skelton (Health Minister), just speaking to some of the amendments and some of the changes that we have to make to continue to make the NHI healthcare system better," he announced.
He continued, "We didn’t expect it to be all things to all people and just be perfect on the first go. But the fact that we have laid it out, now we understand the test and trial, what works, what doesn’t work."
According to information, a whopping $12,969,306 have already been paid out to local healthcare providers for services rendered in the first 8 months of NHI, which came into force in January of this year.
"In September I stood in the House of Assembly and I spoke about it, which was not popular even to the people in the House of Assembly, about some of the healthcare providers and insurance companies taking advantage; basically abusing the government through NHI. It was not popular," Hon. Turnbull said, implying that since the figures are now known, he was right all along.
"Here is the thing, I am not expert in all things, in anything, but when it comes to insurance, I am fully licensed, fully qualified, have about ten plus years experience in the field. So when I spoke about taking advantage of the system, I knew exactly what I was talking about. So now that the report came out, everybody saying 'oh that is what Mitch is talking about'...The funny thing here is that nobody came back and said that Mitch was right," the Second District Representative added.
A resident asked the legislator how government intends to address the abuse.
"The first thing that we are doing is looking at the structure; the cost measures that we put in place for the providers to be able to charge---how does that work out, is the bar set too high, too low---because at the end of the day, even if my bill is $500 and NHI decides that they are only paying $200, you the customer will still have to pay the additional $300," he stressed.
Hon. Turnbull also expanded on the insurance companies.
"If I have my own private insurance provider and NHI is there, who is paying? Those are questions we haven’t answered because my private insurance provider could say 'well NHI is there let them pay', but I am paying you for a premium package, when are you going to pay?"
He said, "these are things that we have to continue to investigate to see how best it's working, because at the end of the day, even though we have put the system in place for the benefit of our people, our people in certain cases are not getting the best benefit because we are getting coverage on one end and we are getting to squeeze out of the pocket (on the other end)."
Hon. Turnbull assured residents that the issues will be addressed with the planned tweaks.
"So because we are making it beneficial for everybody, it means that government will take in the additional cost, but now what we need to do is to look at the number and see what are these costs…Now that we have done it for a year there about, are we going maintain these costs, adjust them, tweak it so that we continue to be effective as possible," the Second District Representative stated.
Residents also commented that the cost for prescriptions has skyrocketed since NHI, and has tripled in some cases.
The NHI programme is said to be designed to provide affordable universal healthcare to persons of the BVI, all while providing a dedicated source of funds for strengthening the local healthcare system.
With over $50M being allocated to the longevity of the programme, one of the main features of the fund is the co-pay. Registrants seeking medical assistance, both in terms of doctor care/visits and medication, are expected to pay only a percentage of the end cost.
The percentage an individual is subjected to pay varies, depending on the establishment one is seeking such assistance from.
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