It turns out that 4.875 million Netherlands Antillean guilders was paid into St. Maarten’s mandatory COVID-19 medical insurance (see Thursday newspaper), while NAf. 1.231 million is the total ongoing claims amount up to now. This means local companies providing the coverage – in any event so far – earned a combined NAf. 3.644 million.
Before jumping to conclusions, realise that high-risk analyses play a role in such sudden, unprecedented and hard-to-predict circumstances. Considering the many unknown factors, the premium of US $15 per visitor obviously had to be based on worst-case scenarios, especially because evacuation by air ambulance if needed was included.
The emergency provision also protected healthcare providers including the hospital already burdened by the pandemic from ending up with huge unpaid bills and government perhaps ultimately having to bear the brunt. In that sense, it can be considered a success.
However, the compulsory insurance was part of an entire Electronic Health Authorisation System (EHAS), along with vaccination proof and recent negative test requirements. Another story on the same page explained that this cost the country NAf. 3.5 million in salaries alone.
If, God forbid, such a situation were ever to occur again, it might be an idea to incorporate at least part of that expense into the premium. Even one or two dollars for that purpose could have made a significant difference.
There were also some issues with how the temporary employees were hired and – certainly from a legal point of view – it would be good to address these for similar future cases.
This is in no way meant to criticise all concerned in setting up and executing the EHAS, because they did a heck of job under difficult conditions and with plenty of time-pressure. It nevertheless pays to learn from the experience and look at possible adjustments, as there is almost always room for improvement.
