‘NHI under financial distress’, says Deputy Director
Deputy Director of the National Health Insurance (NHI), Roy Barry, has said the entity is mired in a state of financial distress.
Appearing before the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) late last year, Barry said the distress is as a result of having to pay for government-funded individuals (persons whose medical insurance is funded by the government) when they access healthcare at private facilities even though the NHI is not receiving monies for their care.
Barry told the SFC there is a partnership between NHI and the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA). Explaining the details of partnership, Barry said the NHI receives an annual government subvention of $42 million which is transferred to BVIHSA with the intent to fund services for the government-funded individuals.
Consequently, the NHI does not have the authority to mandate where government-funded individuals seek medical care and many access services from private facilities, whether locally or overseas, and NHI is responsible for paying for the services received.
According to Barry, as of the end of October last year, the NHI paid $3 million for the care of government-funded individuals at private facilities.
User confidence driving private medical care
Meanwhile, Third District Representative Julian Fraser said he, like other members, receives requests for medical assistance from the public, and questioned why government-funded individuals continually seek care at private facilities instead of public facilities.
Fraser requested clarity on whether the trend is due to the limited offering by the BVIHSA. Barry then replied that the determining factor on where individuals seek medical care is usually a matter of user confidence.
Barry explained that when looking at services in the territory, they compare the offerings by BVIHSA to the Bougainvillea Clinic/Hospital.
He highlighted that while the BVIHSA continually transfers patients overseas for minor surgeries, Bougainvillea continuously improved its services and capacity and recently had its first open-heart surgery.
Why is BVI transferring patients overseas for minor surgeries?
The Deputy Director said the NHI receives many questions from Puerto Rico and continental US facilities about why patients are being transferred for minor surgeries.
Barry explained that current legislation does not give authority for NHI to intervene in where patients seek medical care.
He further explained that NHI submitted recommendations to amend the legislation, and said one of those recommendations was to penalise government-funded individuals choosing to seek medical care at private facilities.
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Check out all the private clinics and the cash they were able to build up during the last few years. Every single doctor is earning million dollar salaries and building their own clinics whilst abusing the NHI…
Take the $3 million from BVIHSA and give it to the NHI!
Whatever NHI expends concerning government employees should be reimbursed to it out of monies given to BVIHSA – no?
“Barry said the NHI receives an annual government subvention of $42 million which is transferred to BVIHSA with the intent to fund services for the government-funded individuals.”
“According to Barry, as of the end of October last year, the NHI paid $3 million for the care of government-funded individuals at private facilities.”
Name those local physicians please
We are a country of sick and debilitated. Dependent upon a medical system that can’t help us. Our needs outweigh what NHI can provide and the costs strip the treasury of available funds. Add to that, employers don’t pay as they should and employees are left in the cold paying out out of their own pocket. It’s a failed system, one that never had a chance from the beginning.
The system is doomed to collapse. Soon.
NHI is bull! Even the politicians saw the need to supplement THEIR/confidential own health coverage!! People should be free to access health care where they are most comfortable, confident in services provided, and reasonably assured that their private medical information will remain CONFIDENTIAL. NHI is in financial duress not because of consumers seeking and receiving healthcare (as that is the point and of health insurance) but it was created and implemented with many flaws and false assumptions despite the public’s resistance. Expecting people to depending on public healthcare facilities only is like being stranded at sea and drinking sea water to survive!
Penalise human beings for trying to make the best decision in the interest of their health and desire to continue to live? I think it would be better to restrict coverage based on the severity of the illness and the complexity of the required treatment as confirmed by a medical practitioner.
The private clinics are killing the NHI with their high price. What the hospital should consider doing is bring in specialist in every area and adequately staffing the hospital with doctors and nurses as a means of ensuring persons can get the medical treatment they deserve at the hospital. Imagine a doctor charging you just to discuss a test result. On top of that they send NHI a bill. Ridiculous!
People lose confidence in the hospital cause of the track record.
True. I remember that a heart specialist use to visit monthly from Puerto Rico, but this seem to have withered away. Fortunately, the eye specialist still comes. I agree this is something which Government needs to reconsider. It will certainly be more cost effective if the funds are not there to engage them fulltime. Some private clinics do this, so why can Government not do likewise.
Hospital gets paid and provides little work..they are actually more expensive than the private sector in terms of the amount of services rendered and money paid to them by the Government. More than half the money and much less than half the services.
Barry say you will hear! LOL
NHI was set up to support *** medical and *** clinic. Orlando was no match for the goats.
Introduced legislation to determine where you decide to take health care. Am I reading and understanding right? This not a democracy. Throw NHI the garbage it costing them it costing us, only those that were already rich benefited. I don’t have a right to decide with my life in the balance where is the best facility for my survival?
While some find NHI to be inappropriate some find it to be useful because not all of us can afford the high coverages charged by the other insurance companies. I recently received quotations and could not find anything with suitable coverage for under $700.00 per month, which is some people’s rent. We must realise that the insurance we have when we are in our 30s will not follow us when we are in our 60s. Also the insurance we have on the job belongs to our employers and will become null and void when we leave their employ. There must be a way for Government to regulate the banks and the insurance companies and not the consumers.
There must be a reason why people seek medical services abroad and at the private facilities. Government need to investigate the reasons and work to improve its facilities. I think there are fantastic doctors and other health care workers at the public hospital, but do they have the most modern resources available to work with?
Don’t fool yourself those in the insurance companies will soon or have their claws in NHI. What we need is insurance companies to come in.
What we have now are not Insurance companies but brokers who buy the insurance and sell to customers which is why our rates are high compared to other places like USVI. It is real criminal and savage that the Government doesn’t bring legislation to control these brokerage firms.
The NHI has been abused by doctors and patients who are trying to make BVI a welfare state. It needs serious regulations on this payout to Doctors which is so ridiculous. The banks and food sellers especially the banks are causing the cost of living to go up.
The BVI is in a bad place because those who are supposed to be leading are lying in Bed with these forces that are hell-bent on controlling the BVI and its people.
How about the Real estate people they are the worst ones. The are hiking up the price of every single unit they advertise. A one bedroom hut now is being advertise for half a million dollars. I have watched one property move from $630,000 to $890,000 and it has not even been painted in the interim. I have seen the remains of places gutted by IRMA being advertised for half a million dollars. Because of this gouging of the real estate market local can’t even think of buying a home except for the privileged few who are snapping up everything.
Foreclosures are rising in numbers and they’re the ones setting it up for their friends and family to snatch up
I quite agree that NHI is being abused. However, I also believe that the insurance companies which you think “need to come in” will have high rates as well. I did not only check for coverage in the BVI, I also checked in the USA, and the prices were also high. One can get coverage for less, but what do they cover? Remember I mentioned that coverage should be appropriate, because if you have insurance which covers very little, to me it is inappropriate. For example, I received a quote for an insurance for one year for a little over $200.00 per month, which is affordable. However, I am not sure it is appropriate because the maximum amount for heart/lung is $100,000, Kidney $30,000, organ transplant $100,000 for a lifetime. We all know organ transplant in places where this is done costs waaaaay more than $100,000. The only thing the doctors will do for a patient with an insurance such as this is tell him/her they cannot do anything for them (because the insurance is inadequate but the doctors will not say that.).
Look at what we paid for private before NHI and after and you will see which BVIslanders pockets all the money going into.
NHI was a failure from inception and is only being buttress by social security. The logical move at the time by the government was to leave people with their private insurance and then introduce a 2% health tax to fund the uninsured and government dependents. Under this better funded program an individual who has contributed for 6 months would have the their customary deductibles covered from their health tax.
This way the insurance companies would be footing these bills and the government contributions would be minuscule for the uninsured.
@NHI Failure
“The logical move at the time by the government was to leave people with their private insurance and then introduce a 2% health tax to fund the uninsured and government dependents”.
Eerily similar to what I suggested before the NHI was implemented. Another point is that the private insurance companies are about net profit and they would aggressively negotiate for lower prices for procedures which would in turn keep down co-payments.
The hard part is how to fix this from here.
This what happens when you allow private doctors to triple their prices as soon as NHI was started
This happens everywhere, but when caught elsewhere the perpetrators face the consequences, but in the BVI there are none.
I am not surprised. S**** dentist on main Street charged $400 to look into my mouth and clean it. My copay was almost $100 and NHI about $300. These doctors are too ridiculous with their prices. Especially since going to St. Thomas is not as easy as before. They are raping their country. A set of professional thieves.
The person who wrote the comment that NHI is a failure did not do your proper research before such a comment was written. Most people appreciate the service given by NHI. You seem to be one of the selfish few.
How about the government enforce there price control bill like they’re suppose to and then no matter where people go for medical care in the BVI prices will be within the same equivalent? that should have some positive effect for NHI to benefit from.
nhi should have been able, as the main provider, to force the private doctors prices down, but that would have lost votes and meant no kick backs
Then they killing people with them bs
Set prices for each type of procedure and if the private clinic wants to charge more it comes from the patient’s pocket… like the rest of the world.
This happens everywhere, but when caught elsewhere the perpetrators face the consequences, but in the BVI there are none.
I am a bvi islander living
in the usa.I have insurance
which has a cost for every
procerdure and cannot go
above certain costs
NHI must be in financial strain when no proper planning was put in place. Just look at the stats that was put in the papers some years back. Well we know which medical facility is in the front get the most from NHI. Every month it grieve my heart to see how much money is deducted from my small salary and I seldom get sick. What a thing!
One of the problems also is that the same employers who are not paying Social Security are also not paying NHI, so if they owe Social Security 15 Million they probably owe the same to NHI But being prominent cronies they will not be collected from.
Concerning old citizens I know people who were covered in a group insurance but after NHI was forced on people the group dismantled and individual insurance for the elderly person was financially out of their reach.
Private clinics are building palaces now and charging whatever they feel they can get away with. Why do I pay as much co-payment for a crown now what I used to pay for the crown paying by myself, Why do people pay 3 times co-payment for the eye-doctor now what their previous visit had cost?
Please. Done away with NHI and go back to how it use to be..Let employers seek out the private deal for their employees. My employer had nagico and it was great service had no problems getting medical attention…Only private doctors benefitting from NHI with their high cost..
Too much expatriate are on NHI let them pay full y for all medical procedures out there pocket they chose to come here to work no free loading off bvi resources full time we take a stand these expatriates are living too freely some are working outside there work permit also.WE ARE NOT TAKING IT NO MORE
@Bvi Patriot
Without the expatriate contributions there would be no NHI. The pool is already small enough as it is.
Think about this one of the reasons why BVISSB is so successful is that some expats contribute, return home and never claim.
Quit with the division.
So aren’t they contributing to the scheme. You going take their money for a service they cannot access. I’m ashamed that you can allow such malice to come out your mouth and have people look at BVI islanders as hateful and malicious people. You are one who promotes the xenophobic behavior
what a stupid comment – expats keep it (and social security) afloat. it was only ever set up to put money into the pockets of a few.
the expats who were suppose to make this viable by their contributions, were all sent home by Vincent Dont Like Island Man Wheatley lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll……………………………tek day allyuh!!
They call it an NHI SCHEME aint nothing more Tortola people and all the Dr. that already receive millions from NHI love than a SCHEME! Ponzi’s eventually collapse right? That’s what you seeing here.
The NHI brother and sister duo decides who gets treated and where!
It’s high time somebody sues the two of you psychos!
Where do they take the money that people contribute everyday? nothing has changed ever since the scheme was introduced, let the scheme employ people who can make better financial sound decisions not vama dongodongo ivi…maybe there is need for a quick forensic audit.
all the independent feasibility studies done before said this would work, that was before the dr’s were permitted to ramp up their fees. this was never meant to be anything more than another tool to put money into the pockets of a few of the elite.
This entire program was a failure the day it started. Completely unsustainable. Government should have stayed out of the insurance business, look what it did to rates from practitioners overnight. It is a failure.
It ain’t rocket science. If you take more out of the NHI than you put in then its going to bust. When are all of the employee and employers contributions deducted and not paid over to the NHI? Same with SSB and tax. The employers have to pay them over.