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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 NASSAU, The Bahamas – Payments from the National Health Insurance Plan/National Health Insurance Fund will be “focused only to local facilities and Providers” in order to funnel some of the more than $80 million in health spending which currently goes overseas, Minister of Health the Hon. Dr. Perry Gomez announced.
The decision will ensure that some of that money is kept right at home in The Bahamas, amongst local Providers, while increasing their potential revenues.
“One of the expected benefits that NHI will bring with an increase in the number of people with health insurance is an expansion in the number of persons who can access healthcare services from private providers (thereby) increasing potential revenues for them,” Dr. Gomez said.
The Health Minister said public healthcare officials estimate that they will need somewhere in the range of $100 million annually to provide the primary care NHI benefits package to all eligible beneficiaries.
The amount is expected to be adjusted annually, to reflect increases in the benefits package; the impact of inflation, as well as changes in the demand for health services.
“These estimates have been validated by at least three, external entities and constitute a significant increase in the availability of resources for the population,” Dr. Gomez said.
Dr. Gomez said monies will be transferred to a newly-established National Health Insurance Authority from the Consolidated Fund using existing public resources that will be re-allocated from existing spending such as the Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA).
“Improvements in the financial sustainability of the Bahamian health system is one of the key reasons the Government has decided to move towards the implementation of National Health Insurance as it offers clearly the benefits of cost containment and ideal allocation of resources when compared with the existing system,” Dr. Gomez said.
Dr. Gomez said the initial focus of NHI will be on the provision of primary care services to the entire population utilizing both the public and private providers.
“Our strategy for implementation has been set in line with the population’s needs, our financial realities and careful measure of our implementation capacity. While in a theoretical world we would begin to offer the entire range of health services from day one, we are cognizant that – for a range of reasons – from practical ones based on infrastructure and human resource limitations to financial ones, that is not feasible.
“Instead, our initial focus is on provision of primary care services to the entire population, utilizing both public and private providers and provision of certain financially catastrophic services which most impact the burden of disease.
“In due time, we will introduce a full range of benefits that ensure all Bahamians have access to the healthcare services they need to restore and maintain their health,” Dr. Gomez added.
Dr. Gomez said the decision to opt for the introduction of a National health Insurance system to lead The Bahamas to Universal Health Coverage was
based on systematic, evidence-based analyses of the data and experiences on health financing, locally and internationally.
“These analyses, which began over 30 years ago, culminated in the recent work over the last two years by multiple international and local consultants. Hundreds of meetings have been held with thousands of stakeholders and community groups to share information, test ideas, generate options, gain insights and altogether gather vital on-the-ground data for designing the NHI Plan.”
The Health Minister said those consultations have resulted in more than 80 changes being made to the initial draft of the Bill, ranging from simple changes of definitions to major changes such as the composition of the Board of the National Health Insurance Authority.
“During the revision process, the Government was focused on balancing the sometimes conflicting desires of varying stakeholder groups with the overall goal of ensuring the improvement of the health of the Bahamian people remained as the primary focus. I am confident that the current Bill represents a significant improvement over our initial proposal,” Dr. Gomez said.
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