By Delana Isles From TC Weekly News

Under the National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP) the Government paid out some $7.1 million in overseas medical treatment to several countries over a four month period in 2017.

This was disclosed by Minister of Health, Agriculture and Human Services, Edwin Astwood who was questioned about the monetary allocations by elected member for the Leeward and Long Bay constituency Akierra Missick.

She wanted to know how many people were referred for treatment overseas pursuant to the treatment abroad programme from July 1, 2017 to October 31 2017; where they were referred; what were the costs of these referrals specific to the country they were referred to and what is the expenditure of the treatment abroad programme for the aforementioned date.

Astwood reported that there was a total of 418 referrals between July 1 and October 31, 2017.

He said: “This is a great concern to this ministry and it should be to this country.”

The minister stated that the countries where patients were referred to were: Bahamas with 80 patients; Canada with two; Cayman Islands 19; Columbia one; Dominican Republic 120; Haiti seven; Jamaica 183, United Kingdom two; and the United States of America with four.

He stated that those who were referred to Haiti and the United Kingdom were due to them choosing to return to their home countries for treatment as such no costs, with the possible exception of airfare was incurred.

He further related that the cost per country were – Canada $801,258.64; Columbia $153,933.91; Dominican Republic $871,507.93; Cayman Islands $391,954.27; Jamaica $2,210,332.17; Bahamas $3,339,540.61 and United States $17,189.72.

Astwood reported that the total cost to the Government is $7,131,783.34.

He also reported that the total expenditure for the treatment abroad programme for July 1 to October 31 was $8,659,170.57.

The breakdown of that cost is – overseas subsistence $238,225.23; overseas travel $1,289,162; overseas medical expenses $7,131,783.34.

Asked if the 418 patients that were referred were all Turks and Caicos Islanders, the health minister said that they had qualified by the law to access the health benefits under the NHIP.

He could not say whether these people were Islanders but noted again that they were lawful recipients of NHIP.

The NHIP was established in 2009 as a social health insurance plan based on contributions from employers and employees who are legally resident in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Government is also mandated to make contributions to the plan in the following way: as an employer on behalf of its employees, as a subscriber on behalf of the unemployed, indigent and ward of the state, transfer of funds for the management and payment of treatment abroad cost, and the transfer of funds for the payment of the monthly hospital infrastructure cost.

The funds collected by the National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) from employers and subscribers are used to purchase healthcare locally from the preferred provider (TCI Hospitals), the network of contracted private primary healthcare clinics and private pharmacies on behalf of and to the benefit of its registered subscribers.

The NHIB on behalf of TCIG manages the procurement of overseas treatment for the beneficiaries of the NHIP.

From budget year to budget year this cost is unpredictable as it is a reflection of both the number of persons requiring tertiary level care in any given year as well as the magnitude of their problems.

For more on this story go to: http://tcweeklynews.com/m-paid-out-for-overseas-treatment-from-july-to-october-p8439-127.htm

IMAGE: Trinity Mother Frances