Minister: Social Security and Oil Fund will finance N.H.I.
And fortunately this morning there was a politician nearby, in the form of Minister of Health—and Caribbean Shores Representative—Jose Coye. Again, we asked the question: what is the cost of N.H.I.? The answer, much to our surprise, led straight to the oil fields of Spanish Lookout.
Jose Coye, Minister of Health
“Before I get into the issue of budget in terms of the affordability and the privatisation and the efficiency of the operation of the budget, I would want to say that there will be additional revenues coming to the government through the oil, and we have already introduced the Petroleum Bill to the parliament, which will be debated in the near future, I hope, and then passed. The Petroleum Bill in essence is to have a permanent account which will go into the future, into prosperity for generations to come. But a portion of it will be determined by a formula in the bill to say this portion must go to the consolidated fund. Now, the government decision in its budgeting is to ensure, and that’s a commitment given by the Cabinet already, that we will ensure that the funds that come from the Petroleum Fund that goes into the consolidated fund, a portion of the revenue, should be given priority for social services, specifically health and education. So that will be one source of funding to supplement the N.H.I. need, and that to me is very important”
“So this year alone, in the first 07-08 budget, we have budgeted money through the Ministry of Health to go into the N.H.I. for the first time and the Ministry of Finance has budgeted money also from the Ministry of Finance to go into the N.H.I., in addition to what we get from the Social Security, and then we look to the Petroleum Fund.”
Stewart Krohn
“Minister, budgeting is one thing, you could put anything in a budget; affordability is another thing. We are already hearing talk now that this so-called reduction of the deficit to less than one percent of G.N.P. is not gonna be realisable, that we’re looking at a three percent deficit again. You talk about the Petroleum Fund, this is news to the public I think, because it appeared to be that in the legislation that Petroleum Fund was really for gilt edged investments, this was the rainy day fund, this was the hard currency that was gonna give comfort to Belize’s many creditors. Now you’re telling me the petroleum money, or at least a big part of it, is gonna go for social services. How much money are we talking about for N.H.I.?”
Jose Coye
“Stewart, I wish at this moment, because it was a question that was asked of me yesterday and I have asked that for us to come down as quickly as possible to be able to determine what the budget could be like for the rolling out of N.H.I. throughout the whole country. We know what it is so far for the areas that we have done and we have done some projections and we have not completed yet into the Orange Walk and Corozal area and of course into Cayo, the west.”
Stewart Krohn
“That happens January first, noh?”
Jose Coye
“Right, those are the areas that are left. And as a quick estimate off the top of my head I could say we could be seeing about twenty-one million of a bit more.”
Stewart Krohn
“Per year.”
Jose Coye
“Yeah. And what you’ll be seeing of course is that much of what is being provided for primary care through the Ministry of Health continues, so again, it’s the excess of that that will be needed to be brought in through the budget and we have already enhanced that budget this year by about five million alone through the Ministry of Health, so we are beginning to phase it in. So I feel confident that yes, it is not something that I expect will come easily to us, but it’s a question of how will you take the Petroleum Fund as one of the sources.”
Having found out that N.H.I. will be financed by a combination of oil revenues, Social Security and the Ministry of Health, it was left to Dr. Edwards to fill us in on what we’ll get for all those dollars.
Dr. Paul Edwards
“So you’re talking about a clinic that is centrally located, so we’re looking at accessibility to services; we’re talking about affordability when we’re saying there is a small co-payment; and then we’re talking about quality services. There are minimum criterias that we as a Ministry of Health facility have to raise up to, to be able to satisfy those criteria. So definitely there will be many benefits for those individuals who access healthcare services under an N.H.I. paid system.”
Stewart Krohn
“Give me some specifics, doctor. Let’s say I getting on in years, my prostate di act up. I could get some health from NHI?”
Dr. Paul Edwards
“Of course, so. We’re talking about medical consultations, services by nurses, by a specialists like an obstetrician if needed, by a paediatrician if it is needed, so you’re talking about specialised care as well. At the same time, there will be a laboratory support, there will be X-Ray support except for an M.R.I., and there will be support in relation to the medications.”
Stewart Krohn
“Currently on the southside, the knock you hear on N.H.I. is I go in and I have to sit in the waiting room for three hours before I get service and as you know, time is money. Does it really make sense in some instances? If this is going to be the case can you really expect much response?”
Dr. Paul Edwards
“While to a certain extent I will agree with you, when the programme started probably that was the timeframe, probably worse case scenario. But one of the critical areas when you look at the roll out of N.H.I. paid services is the fact of client satisfaction and therefore there are client satisfaction surveys and based on the results of those surveys then we look at those factors and implement them. So, it is anticipated that the waiting time will certainly not be three hours.”
When asked what would happen if unexpected demand for N.H.I. services radically raised the price tag, Coye speculated that patient co-payments could be increased and would not rule out a raise in Social Security deductions from workers and employers.
