The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Shane Gibson said yesterday the National Insurance Board’s Medical Benefits Branch (MBB) needs an “injection” from the government to sustain the National Prescription Drug Plan and complete the construction of mini-hospitals in the country.

Speaking with the media after NIB’s graduation of 28 new inspectors, Mr Gibson said while the board is doing “a lot” with the MBB, it “has no choice” but to request the government to inject funds into the Medical Branch because funds are not being replenished “at a rate that would keep the kind of monies that we need to complete the rest of the projects.”

Mr Gibson also said NIB is looking at “gradually modifying” the amount of contributions persons pay in an effort to increase customer compliance in meeting current or outstanding payments.

“We’ve been doing a lot of stuff with the Medical (Benefits) Branch,” Mr Gibson said. “We funded 100 per cent the National Prescription Drug Plan from the Medical Branch and they’re also funding all of the mini-hospitals and the clinics that you see being constructed at this time.

“Based on our commitments and what we are responsible for we have no choice than to look into transferring money from one branch to the next (and) we’ve already asked government as well to inject some new money into that branch. Monies will have to be there because we have a number of projects that we have to complete. We cannot accumulate the kind of monies near the way we would normally do to contributions between now and next year, so an injection is needed.”

According to Mr Gibson, the National Prescription Drug Plan began in September 2010 with 6,500 beneficiaries for its first phase. However, he admitted that there was “some concern” with regards to the sustainability of the drug plan, noting that the number of beneficiaries had more than tripled to 25,000 since it was first introduced.

Mr Gibson said that while the plan was moving “progressively in numbers, providing and coverage,” there was “some concern” of the fiscal future of its sustainability.

Since its inception, he said, the plan had been fully funded through the Medical Benefits Branch, but it was never intended for the MBB to be the lone financial source of the plan.

Mr Gibson said that if things stayed the same, coupled with “the funding of mini-hospitals by the Medical Benefits Branch”, the MBB would be challenged to provide continued funding for the plan, “at least until the Drug Plan is incorporated in the pending National Health Insurance Programme.”