By ANGELA BURNS-PIPER
Virgin Islands Daily News
June 9, 2006
Tortola – Within one year, the government of the British Virgin Islands should receive a design for a national health insurance program to provide adequate health-care coverage for every man, woman and child in the territory.
Chief Minister Orlando Smith signed a contract Thursday with the University of the West Indies’ Health Economics Unit for the design and implementation of a national health insurance program for the BVI.
“While there are many intricate details to be worked out, the fundamental vision behind national health insurance is simple: We want a system of health-care coverage that will enable every man, woman and child of the BVI to get the health care that they need,” Smith said.
As in many other countries, the government of the BVI provides health care for certain categories of people, such as children younger than 15 years old and the elderly. Everyone else usually has to pay for their health care, although it is heavily subsidized.
“Though some people have health insurance, too many people do not and therefore cannot get access to the health care that they need, especially when they have to travel overseas to be referred,” Smith said. “So these are some of the things that had to be taken into consideration.”
Smith said that for the program to succeed, it will take the input and participation of the entire community, and he challenged every citizen and resident of the BVI to get involved.
“Over the coming year, there will be many opportunities for you to make your voices heard and to contribute to the formulations of a health-care system that works best for you,” he said. “Take up this challenge, speak your mind, ask hard questions, seek out information.”
The Social Security Board will be working closely with the UWI team during the coming months and will be responsible for administering this program after it is implemented.
Director Antoinette Skelton, who chaired Thursday’s signing ceremony, said the board is committed to making the program a success. “The Social Security Board is committed to this project because we see the access to adequate health care as the extension of the social protection presently offered by our organization,” she said.
“The failure to provide adequate social health protection leads to great inequality and poverty, since health expenditure puts pressure on family income and has an enormous effect on the most vulnerable,” she said.
She said it is a well-known fact that the high cost of treatment of illnesses such as HIV-AIDS, cancer, and heart disease is one of the main factors in generating poverty because it forces families who are not protected by health insurance to go to extreme lengths – sacrificing their savings or avoiding spending on basic necessities – to meet the high cost.
Professor Karl Theodore of UWI, who signed the contract with the chief minister, said it is important for the BVI and the university. “For in coming here to cooperate with the establishment of the national health insurance program, UWI is demonstrating its commitment to improving the quality of life of the people of the region,” he said.
Theodore said the program basically is about social insurance, in which there is prepayment and when an event occurs, contributors can access health services without having to put money in. He said it is different from private insurance, in which there is a pooling of risk and payment is based on individual risk.
“With social insurance, payment is based on risk assigned to the community as a whole,” Theodore said said. “The objective is to really maximize the access to health care of all the citizens and residents of the country.”
He said that when the system becomes functional, each person will be issued a card, which will be a guarantee to good service and an instrument to keep track of what is happening with the system in terms of quality and cost of service.
The professor said the program will take about three years to put in place.
The contract, worth $585,100, calls for UWI to perform a number of tasks, including developing the legislative framework, registering the population, developing information systems and generating actuarial projects.
– Contact Angela Burns-Piper at 284-494-1291 or send e-mail to angelaburnspiper@yahoo.com.
