S.S.B. Had a Shortfall of $20M Largely due to Tourism Downturn

Chandra Nisbet-Cansino

And while S.S.B. was able to keep its services running for its customers, it did not meet its budgetary projections for collections last year. Cansino explained that S.S.B. makes these projections based on employers’ contributions from year to year.  Coupled with that, S.S.B. had to pay out huge amounts for COVID illnesses.

Chandra Nisbet-Cansino, Gen. Mgr., Corporate Customer Relations Services, S.S.B.

“We had a shortfall of about twenty million dollars for 2020 and of course, most of that came out of the tourism industry, so because the businesses and the hotels and the resorts closed down, they did not contribute to Social Security as they would have. So it was a shortfall of around twenty million dollars for 2020.”

Reporter

“And then in addition to that, S.S.B. also had to pay out to COVID patients, right? That is an added expense?”

Chandra Nisbet-Cansino

“Yes, that – I wouldn’t call it an added expense. It’s certainly a benefit that if the customers qualify, they are entitled to get. So we had – what we did notice was a lot of other claims for sickness benefits went really low. For example, for the flu and other more common illnesses, those went down and then COVID went up.”

Cansino says S.S.B. is still in the process of finalizing its figures for 2020 in its annual financial report.