PHILIPSBURG--A total of 42,674 persons are registered under the various health care funds managed by Social and Health Insurances SZV.
This is according to figures requested by this newspaper and provided by the office of Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA Emil Lee.
The figures show that a total of 36,924 persons are registered under the sickness insurance fund ZV. It was erroneously reported earlier that there were 67,000 persons under the ZV fund, however, this figure is actually the maximum yearly earnings that an individual should have in order to qualify to be insured under the fund. The exact amount of the 2018 annual wage limit for persons to qualify for coverage is NAf. 67,816.
Additionally, figures provided by the minister's office show that 5,250 civil servants and teachers are insured under the government health insurance regulation OZR (in Dutch: overheids ziektekosten regeling). The total number of PP card holders is 2,019 and a total of 1,181 persons are insured under the FZOG (retired civil servants’) fund.
There are 2,700 “non-active insured” persons. Non-active insured persons are individuals who are entitled to coverage under a particular insurance fund, but do not make use of the insurance because they are privately insured, for example.
The minister's office promised to provide figures for the AOV/AWW (old age, widows and orphans pension) and AVBZ funds today.
According to the minister’s office, the figures represent persons who are insured under the respective funds/regulation at any point of the year. The numbers are based on current legislation, regulation and on registered employees and registered former employees. By law, for the ZV fund, the spouse and child(ren) of the primary insured are also entitled to insurance. The OZR regulation (covering civil servants and teachers), stipulates that the spouse and child(ren) of the primary insured may also be entitled to insurance.
Lee had painted a grim picture of how some of the funds being managed by SZV were doing financially during an urgent meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament recently. Two of the funds being managed by the insurance service provider are operating at huge losses.
According to the information provided during that meeting, while the AOV/AWW (old age, widows and orphans pension); AVBZ (long-term care insurance) and Cessantia (severance pay insurance in the event of bankruptcy) are financially healthy; the two largest funds – FZOG and the ZV/OV are operating at huge losses.
In 2012, the ZV/OV sickness and accident insurance funds had a negative reserve balance of -27.8 million guilders, in 2013 it was -37.5 million; in 2014 it stood at -23.1 million, in 2015 it was -39.6; in 2016 it was -69.8 million and in 2017 it rose to -108 million. In 2018, the negative reserves for the sickness and accident insurance fund is expected to increase to -148 million.
The FZOG fund on the other hand had reserve deficit of -3.3 million in 2012; -5.1 million in 2013; -5.6 million in 2014; -9 million in 2015; -11.1 million in 2016 and -16.9 million in 2017. In 2018 the deficit in the FZOG fund is expected to climb to -19.3 million.
The cessantia fund was operating in the green with 13.7 million in reserves in 2017, up from the 11.9 million in reserves in the fund in 2016. No claims had been paid out from the cessantia fund since 2015.
The AVBZ fund was also in the black with 90.2 million in reserves in 2017, up from the 77.8 million in reserves in the fund the year earlier.
The AOV/AWW fund had 508.1 million in reserves in 2017, down from the 452.9 million in 2016. In 2016, all of the funds under SZV’s management raked in a total of 208.3 million guilders in premiums, while in 2017 the premium received dropped by 1.2 per cent to 205.9 million guilders. The medical expenses of all the funds last year stood at 122 million guilders up from the 108 million guilders spent in 2016.
