‘Hon Skelton-led committee still examining NHI petition’ – Dr Smith
Speaking to this news site yesterday November 22, 2015, Dr Smith said, “The petition has been passed on to the Minister responsible for the NHI Honourable Ronnie W. Skelton and he’s reviewing it. We will have a further discussion when that is finished on the issues that have been presented on the NHI.”
He added that there are still “certain things” that have to be looked at before a proper decision can be made.
Dr Smith clarified that while he himself will not be able to make any tweaks to the NHI, the body reviewing it, led by Honourable Ronnie W. Skelton, will be the entity recommending any changes.
Concern over Premier's long silence
Radio talk show host Doug Wheatley expressed concern during his Speak Out BVI show on November 10, 2015 as at that time it was three days shy of one month that the NHI Concerned Citizens and Residents Group submitted its petition to the Premier with no form of feedback.
The NHI Concerned Citizens and Residents Group, which had on October 13, 2015 submitted its petition against the National Health Insurance (NHI), along with a detailed letter, has proposed a number of alternatives which it would like to see Government consider instead of the scheme in the current format.
The letter was signed by the chief actor behind the petition Natalio D. Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru. The petition eventually garnered close to 1,000 signatures.
Among the issues considered glaring by the Group are that the system as being implemented is mandatory, that the statistical underpinnings upon which the main study was conducted were flawed and gave incorrect figures for the percentages of insured and uninsured persons in the territory, that individuals and families will be affected, that there is a persistent culture of secrecy, and that the economic viability of the system is in question.
The Group is proposing that everyone could be registered under a private coinsurance pool, that the uninsured should be registered and individuals with insurance that is equivalent or superior to the NHI should be exempted. It also proposed that insured persons can be taxed one to two percent of their salary to pay for the uninsured and suggested the expansion of the remit of Social Security.
However, up until yesterday there had not been a word from the Premier.
Need for time to consult acknowledged
“It has been a month since we held that meeting with the Premier and delivered the petition and the covering letter explaining our reasons for our actions. We thought that we would give the Premier adequate time in order to consult given that he would need a lot of consultation,” Wheatley said earlier this month.
“But it is now over four weeks and we’re getting the feeling that by this time the Premier should have has all his ducks lined up and would be in a position to meet with us or give us a letter stating exactly where he and his government stand on the matters that we raised with them.”
13 Responses to “‘Hon Skelton-led committee still examining NHI petition’ – Dr Smith ”
Concerning the appointment of Hon Skelton to lead committe to review the the concerns of the group, I'm not too sure that is the best move. The conventional wisdom is that a person who created a problem (not saying that NHI is a problem) is usually not the person ask to fix the problem for he/she is too vested in the issue to be objective. The Hon Skelton is in a difficult situation, for what decision he comes up with will be viewed with a jaundice eye. Perhaps an independent body would have been the better move. Further, will the implementation of the NHI be delayed until after the committee has done its due diligence and reports out? Or as some are suggesting, it is a done deal?
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/jackson-testifies-about-confrontations-with-carty-1.1159522