The St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform and Consumers Coalition (see Saturday paper) are worried about some doctors threatening to have public servants pay cash for services. In at least one case a teacher also claimed waiting since December to get reimbursed for medical expenses abroad.
The reason is a backlog in payments by government to its related OZR fund managed by Social and Health Insurances SZV. There is concern that the issue might also affect so-called PP cardholders offered free medical coverage due to their inability to pay for such.
Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour Emil Lee explained that this matter has the attention of the Council of Ministers as well as the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT already several years. He said payments are being made and there was a meeting with Finance Minister Perry Geerlings on the topic two weeks ago.
SZV has agreed to make payments from the fund based on what’s available, but admits there are delays in the transfer of monies to both health care providers and OZR-insured, the latter for approved medical reimbursements and dental requests that normally occur within six weeks. This is hardly a healthy situation – no pun intended.
It must be said, government has reportedly been forthcoming in the payment of monthly instalments towards the backlog recently, but until now this appears to be simply “too little too late.”
Those responsible for this mess in the first place by not making the required payments in the past are probably no longer in government. As is the case with other unpaid SZV and pension premiums, their actions were highly irresponsible and set an entirely wrong example, especially as law-abiding taxpayers, including businesses, are expected to be fiscally compliant.
After all, if government won’t even meet its own financial obligations by paying bills in a correct and timely manner, why should everyone else?
