Willemsberg foresees
SVB premium increase
PHILIPSBURG--While the battle for a new budget agreement between Social Insurance Bank SVB and St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) appears to be nearing an end, consumers may soon feel a pinch in their pockets if an anticipated hike in SVB premiums goes into effect.
SVB Head Reginald Willemsberg said the recent decision by Health Minister Sandra Smith that SVB would increase its budget to the hospital could result in a premium hike. He said the insurance service provider had been facing some seriously increasing cost and, while it understood the hospital’s plight, Smith’s decision would only add to SVB’s mounting expenses.
Smith made a decision that the hospital would receive NAf. 8.1 million this year for services rendered to SVB patients and NAf. 8.3 million in 2007, ending months of negotiations between the two sides for a new budget agreement.
A threat by the hospital to stop accepting SVB clients if an agreement was not reached was among the highlights of the negotiating period. Smith was reported as saying that the Legal Affairs Department of the Central Government had to offer a final advice before she could issue a Ministerial Decree about her decision.
Contacted for comment on Monday, Willemsberg said that while he had not been informed officially about the decision, he anticipated an increase. “It will have some legal implications for SVB, because it means that our cost will increase more drastically,” Willemsberg said, adding that Maria Daal Hospital in Bonaire would also demand an increase in its budget. The Daily Herald understands that Smith also made a decision for a budget increase for Maria Daal.
Willemsberg said that this was not a decision SVB could make. “We can only give some advice,” he said. “SVB will have to comply with the Minister’s decision, but SVB has been working hard to keep its operational and medical cost as low as possible. With this decision, if it is confirmed, it means that our cost will go higher. We will continue to try to contain cost, but it puts a lot more pressure on SVB and we expect a snowball effect because everyone will want to get an increase.”
The SVB premium is presently set at 12.5 per cent of a person’s salary; 8.3 per cent paid by the employer and 2.1 per cent by the employee.
Willemsberg argued that the premium had not been increased since 1996 when the insurance service provider expanded its coverage to include family members.
“One of the expenses that keeps going up is medicine and we don’t have much control over this though we’ve taken measures to contain it,” he said. “Drastic increases will mean that we will have to come up with an increase in premium and this has to be made clear to government and government will have to take some responsibility to continue to contain cost.”
Willemsberg said he was cognisant of the plight of the medical centre: “I agree that their budget has to be increased, but we are looking at increases when SVB hasn’t had an increase that we’ve been advocating for some time now. We cannot continue to maintain the level of expenses without adjusting the level of income.”
To combat the rising cost, he said, SVB had also implemented cost-cutting measures and had managed to reduce its cost by some NAf. 5 million over the past five years. “We have also done our part to increase collection from delinquent companies and even if we reach 100 per cent compliance, which is almost impossible, we will still have a shortfall.”
He also foresees SVB’s sickness fund, which recorded a surplus in 2005, to be negatively affected by additional financial burdens.
Smith had said SMMC couldn’t wait any longer for an agreement, “That’s why I made a decision. We cannot have our medical institutions crippled because they are structurally coping with a deficit.”
State Secretary of Health Rodolphe Samuel said that while SVB had been paying the tariffs stipulated by law, they were insufficient to cover the cost of each SVB patient.
A temporary measure was put in place on May 15 stipulating that SMMC was to receive a retroactive payment of NAf. 100, 000 in advance per month from January 2006 until October 1, 2006.
SVB and SMMC have been trying to come to a new budget agreement for a few months now. Smith had promised to intervene if the two were unable to come to an agreement by October 1, a deadline that was not met. (Judy Fitzpatrick)
St Maarten vacation rental
