Does Belize Have Adequate Health Facilities?

Patricia Brathwaite-Marshall

But does Belize have the adequate facilities in place to deal with health conditions that are on the rise? According to Vice President of Group Insurance for Sagicor Life Inc, Patricia Brathwaite-Marshall, the purpose of the symposium is not to demean Belize’s health system, but to ensure that insurers as well as stakeholders in the health industry know where to go for services unavailable locally.

Patricia Brathwaite-Marshall, Vice President, Group Insurance, Sagicor Life Inc

“I cannot speak to what Belize has but I know that no country has a hundred percent of what the country wants. And of course if it is available somewhere else at a reasonable price, then Sagicor will want to expose its clients to those prices. Our policyholders, our plan administrators and Sagicor have to work together to keep the cost down. And that is why we have a session for the doctors because they are the ones who do the referrals and then we have a session for the policyholders and administrators so that we will know what is available and we will make the right choices. I don’t know much about the health system that you have here, but I know in any country, there are challenges. Where I’m from in Barbados, most of the people prefer to go overseas, but of course in our plan you have to have two referrals. They seem to think as long as you go to the US, it is better care. But I think that it is not necessarily better care. It might be more expensive care and expensive does not necessarily mean quality.”