A General Health Insurance (GHI) will go into effect per January 1, 2024, confirmed the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT (see Friday/Saturday edition). It should be interesting to see how this impacts the community.
Broader collective coverage than what is currently provided by Social and Health Insurances SZV undoubtedly comes with a price tag, apart from whatever savings can be realised regarding medical care. The introduction of a similar AZV in Aruba led to huge deficits that government was forced to finance.
St. Maarten, on the other hand, “expects to structurally reduce the deficits of the healthcare funds” when its GHI is a reality, according to CFT. Granted, important steps to do so with the SZV wage limit increase and a medicine cost-saving programme are already underway.
An ongoing expansion of services at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has also contributed to keeping down referrals abroad. The new St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH) – once completed – ought to do so even more in the future.
Nevertheless, a word of caution seems in order. Raging inflation and skyrocketing energy prices have added to living expenses significantly and with tax reforms also on the horizon there is concern about overburdening the private sector.
Universal health coverage will invariably have to be paid for by persons active rather than inactive on the labour market. However, recovery of the tourism economy is still fragile, with many local businesses and their employees only now getting back to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the GHI leads to any major hike in SZV premiums it could worsen an already bad situation. CFT keeps pointing to the country’s relatively low fiscal burden at 27% of gross domestic product (GDP), but that does not consider extraordinary circumstances like extremely high rents.
Even with the recent minimum wage increase, making ends meet continues to be very difficult for a large part of the working population. Their plight is not to be ignored.
