Anegada residents want Gov’t to hold back NHI
This view was further heard from residents of the sister island of Anegada while this news site was there recently. “I am for a National Health Insurance but I do not think that the heavy yard stick way this government is rushing to do it is the right way,” said one local businessman.
“Ronnie (Hon Ronnie W. Skelton) we know this is your big thing to your time as minister but don’t push it like this on people; you are going to hurt a lot of people…the real people who making this territory are the ones to lose out big time and are going to suffer,” added the man.
“They need to have this thing sorted out better. I heard Mark (Hon Mark H. Vanterpool) jumping up saying he glad he would finally get to stop pushing his hand in his pocket to help people. Mark I got news for you, if you are a real people’s person you would still have to push your hand in your pocket NHI or no NHI,” argued another.
“My appeal is to my Premier Dr Orlando Smith. My good man you have a heart and at this time we need you to stand up for us more than ever. The NHI thing is not ready, there must be another approach that can be possible to not make it so harsh on especially people who have their insurances with private companies. You guys as government are our servants, not the other way around, you guys need to listen to our voice and work with us. It’s time for NHI to go back to the drawing table, plain and straight, this thing not ready yet, leave it alone,” one woman appealed.
NHI supported by both Gov’t & Opposition- Professor Karl Theodore
At the launch of NHI on September 1, 2015 Professor Karl Theodore, the Director of the Centre for Health Economics at the University of the West Indies, said NHI is of paramount importance and it is important that the territory knows that it is supported by both the Government and the Opposition.
Noting that the NHI initiative got started many years ago, Professor Theodore said that in that sense credit must be given to the leaders of the territory for their leadership. “I think we also have to give credit to the Opposition because the government under Dr Smith started looking at the programme in 2005/2006 but then the opposition came to power and to their credit they continued with the programme. It moved a bit slowly but they actually moved with it,” said Professor Theodore.
The UWI professor said it’s important that the country knows that both government and opposition are in full support of the NHI as it would significantly help the system to settle down as something that would present the benefits that they think it will.
According to Professor Theodore, the World Health Organisation (WHO) found, as it relates to universal health coverage, that the countries that were worst off as far as health was concerned were those where people had to dip into their pockets to pay for health care when they needed to.
“The second set of countries that were not doing so well were countries where private health insurance was the dominant formal thing,” explained Theodore.
NHI fears
While there are many who support NHI, there are also many who are against it, especially since they believe they have not been informed enough about the scheme.
One of the fears about NHI is that it will cause many small business to either cut staff or go out of business due to the mandatory payments to NHI for businesses.
Another argument is that the reality is that many in the Virgin Islands are living paycheck to paycheck and being forced to pay NHI will put a further strain on those persons who can hardly afford to meet their financial obligations.
Many have also expressed that they are comfortable with their private insurance but with NHI being made mandatory they feel that they are being forced to sign on to something that they do not agree to and would have to drop their previous insurance since they would not be able to afford to keep it.
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