SENIOR CITIZENS will welcome the new Health Insurance scheme for pensioners, called 'NI Gold', which the Government has announced. Unusual for such a scheme, it does not appear to be a 'too little, too late' sop to the aged but, in fact, provides some very tangible benefits for pensioners, benefits not substantially less than those contained in private sector group health plans.
We also welcome the fact that in its implementation the usual government bureaucracy will be bypassed by having 'NI Gold' administered by Blue Cross of Jamaica which in recent years has enjoyed a good track record for efficient health care coverage.
Coverage in the scheme will be evidenced by a 'NI Gold' card, to be sent out automatically to all pensioners for collection at their post offices. There is no charge for the card, the benefits of which are estimated to cost the government $335 million in the first year of the plan's operation. Persons over 60 years of age make up about 10% of the Jamaican population and pensioners who have contributed to the NIS pension scheme during their working careers now receive a pension of $1,190.88 every two weeks. Hopefully this will be increased shortly but in the mean time the 'NI Gold' card will give meaningful relief to the elderly who, with declining health, are facing rising medical costs.
Benefits under the 'NI Gold' plan include, inter alia, doctors' visits (up to $500 per visit), surgical services (surgeons' fees of $30,000 per procedure) and hospitalisation (daily room and board up to $800 per night). Prescription drugs up to an annual limit of $4,000 (with a copayment of 10%) is probably the stingiest benefit in the scheme. But Jamaica is not alone in being unable to cope with the cost of medication faced by the elderly. Even the new Health Care Bill signed into law in America by President Bush does not cover the cost of drugs in any meaningful way before the year 2006.
In these times of economic uncertainty, the Jamaican government is to be congratulated for not losing its focus in honouring its obligations to the elderly by introducing the 'NI Gold' health plan.
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