Retirees choosing between food and medication — Skelton
Territorial At-Large Representative Ronnie Skelton has sounded the alarm about the economic hardship facing many Virgin Islands retirees, stating that some seniors are being forced to choose between food and vital medication due to stagnant pensions and rising living costs.
Skelton made the statement during a recent episode of NDP Radio, where he and fellow National Democratic Party members addressed ongoing socio-economic issues in the territory.
Skelton explained that the cost of living is outpacing what pensioners are receiving, and that rising food prices and out-of-pocket costs for medication are severely straining the finances of elderly persons—especially when government-supplied prescriptions are unavailable at public facilities.
“There’s something that is bothering me in terms of the retirees,” Skelton stated. “They have to make decisions whether they must buy their medication or eat food,” the Opposition legislator stated.
Skelton claimed that the issue is compounded by the perception that there’s no solution “in the pipeline” to adjust pension payments to account for inflation or cost-of-living increases.
Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn echoed Skelton’s concerns and said the government’s current approach to social support has become bogged down in red tape.
“The reality is that it is too bureaucratic. The process takes too long to get support to individuals and by the time the support gets to individuals, the people are frustrated, they’ve given up,” he stated.
A caller to the programme recounted a conversation with a disabled, elderly woman who said she avoided applying for assistance again because of how long it took to get help the first time. Penn responded by saying elected officials had previously been given stipends to assist residents directly, but these were removed after the Commission of Inquiry (COI) reforms.
Skelton criticised this change, saying that while the system wasn’t perfect, it had allowed for faster, more responsive assistance. “What people do, they look at the bad part of everything. The good that these systems were doing, they just scrap them,” he argued.
He called for the government to make urgent policy changes to strengthen social support, improve pension systems, and ensure retirees are not left behind. “We need to look at a lot of this stuff in a holistic way and get the help to the people that need it,” Skelton stated.
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As a citizen I hate nothing more than my intelligence being insulted especially by politicians. Penn is lamenting that the money that was given to elected officials to assist people were taken away because of the COI and now people are having a hard time. Skelton is also saying the same thing.
In the 2019 elections it was SKELTON himself who was advocating for that same money to be taken away from representatives and given to Social Development. Now they are singing a different song because it is convenient.
We all do not have sharing memories.
These people, including Skeletor, specialize in identifying problems. What are his viable and sustainable solutions? Silence
Salary was upgrades and pensioners left on the back burner.
A country that dose not take care of its Elderly is NO GOoD COUNTRY. This speaks volume of the leadership
Of the time
However, we should not be too surprised. See where the father of oit Premier is currently living
Shame on this government
While thousands go back into thr treasury grom Social Development.
The UK can implement as much changes as they like .. They will not have enoigh eyes to stop the underneath and underhand activities
Whethet tiu want to label it corruption or illegal
But he bee quiet on minimum wage scandal. When the opposition going to start asking more.
I have no respect for this man. He is the reason why the NDP got destroyed and we ended up with Andrew Fahie to lead us down this road. If you lose an election you cannot get up
and turn off. That show you have a very bad mind.
Now all of a sudden it is convenient to go back to NDP now because you lost the leader of the opposition and he see a chance for him to come the leader there because Marlon is weak. Then he pretends that he is not power hungry. He said he is a team player. Only once he is in charge he is a team player.
First of all the COI addressed the issue of substance because it wasn’t working under the previous system as members of HOA were giving who they wanted to give assistance their friends and cronies a lot of which had jobs and lots of money rather than evaluating who needed it most. Under the social development department nothing has changed as Natalio the accidental premier still determines who he wants to be compensated from the program the same friends and cronies. Word on the street is that he determines what money is spent and the remaining money is sent back to the treasury.
Ronnie you were voted to look out for the people but since you started renting your building to the government you came down with a severe case of lock jaw. You can’t empathize with seniors facing hardship as you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth. If you cared so much why didn’t you speak up when the members of HOA received a raise and the seniors were neglected. Also you are the one who orchestrated the NHI program which will bankrupt this country. What is ironic is that if you search NHI on Wikipedia it says the program was set up because government was paying $7 million dollars to assist people who did not have insurance but fast forward today when NHI is subsidized by the government at an amount in excess of $42 million per year. Didn’t it make more sense to keep the system the way it was now we wouldn’t be crying crocodile tears about the tough decisions that seniors have to make between food and health. If we didn’t implement NHI in the first place we wouldn’t have to pay these exorbitant rates and we wouldn’t all have to to suffer while h* and the other health care providers live the life off the backs of the struggling people of this territory.
Attention Governor Pruce there needs to be a review of the system at social development as the politicans still have full control of the program and do nothing in the interest of poor people in this territory. Maybe it should be independently managed by governors office.
Why don’t you make a donation towards the elderly. Seems that you don’t do charity…
He only looking votes. He don’t care about nobody. I ain’t see him once in my area since election. Waste of time