The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The National Insurance Board (NIB) has just days to process three times’ the number of benefits claims it receives in a typical year due to the COVID-19 crisis, a Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Brensil Rolle, minister of the public service and national insurance, told the House of Assembly that the social security system had received almost 18,000 e-mailed claims forms and associated information in the aftermath of the economic shutdown produced by the pandemic.

This volume, which dwarfs the 6,000-7000 benefits claims that NIB receives in an average year, has forced it to “innovate” by developing paperless systems for processing COVID-19 related applications and partnering with private sector employers to make payouts to eligible employees who have temporarily been laid-off.

Mr Rolle added that NIB is now “bracing” to pay out $16m a month “above what it normally budgets” in benefits payments. This translates into an extra $192m annually which, depending on the pandemic’s economic impact and how long it lasts, will further strain a $1.7bn NIB reserve fund which was already set to come under ever-increasing pressure.

While no audited financial statements for NIB have been released since 2016, Mr Rolle confirmed that benefits payouts have exceeded contributions ever since that year. And previous actuarial reports have warned that the $1.7bn reserve fund could be exhausted by early next decade unless major reforms are swiftly implemented.

The minister alluded to this yesterday, referring to NIB’s five-year “strategic plan” and the fact that the COVID-19 crisis had made implementing several of the reforms it contains almost imperative to secure the social security system’s future sustainability.

For now, though, NIB is doing exactly what it was created for - providing income support and a social safety net to thousands of Bahamians and their families who have either suffered job losses or reduced incomes as a result of the pandemic’s fall-out.

“This crisis has placed unprecedented strain on the NIB. The normal rules of engagement do not apply,” Mr Rolle told the House yesterday. “The task is great for NIB. In one month it has had to be transformed into a a paperless operation to swiftly process claims.

“NIB has received roughly 18,000 e-mails of claims forms and other information to process.... NIB currently processes between 6,000 to 7,000 applications a year. Now we’re challenged today to process thousands in just one day.”

Mr Rolle said NIB has dedicated a 60-strong team to process these claims and the documents received from both workers and their employers. To reduce the processing burden, and speed up the payment of much-needed benefits, the minister confirmed it had entered into agreements that will see companies perform this function on NIB’s behalf.

In returning for paying due benefits to eligible staff members, the minister confirmed these firms will receive contribution credits to offset the sums paid. “NIB’s goal is to pay people quicker,” he added. “NIB encourages other employers to make similar arrangements with the Board.

“NIB has 20 large companies in the process of using this innovative method so that persons will be paid as quickly as possible. NIB anticipates 14,000-15,000 claims being handled by this arrangement and, if done, those people will be paid in the quickest possible time.”

Mr Rolle said almost 9,500 unemployed Bahamians will receive benefits cheques, totalling some $4.5m, this week to cover their essential needs for a fortnight. “We are advised that the audit process is near completion, so the payments will be disbursed to 9.500 persons in the quickest fashion,” he added.

Using employers as benefits payment agents had enabled NIB to focus on employers who are not current with their social security contributions. Mr Rolle said staff had been working with companies to ensure the C-10 contribution forms were properly completed and submitted so that laid-off workers will receive due benefits.

“Notwithstanding that their former employer was in arrears, they can still be eligible for this unemployment benefit,” he promised. Mr Rolle said NIB may also relax its benefit qualification criteria in certain circumstances where it made common sense to do so, such as a person with six months’ contributions instead of the required seven but the March C-10 form not submitted yet.

With NIB still receiving “too many hand-written C-10 forms”, which requires staff to then enter the data into their system, Mr Rolle said it was now going to require all companies with more than 10 employees to submit contribution information either via its online portal or Excel spreadsheet on its website.

Of the 2,666 benefits claims received from self-employed persons in the tourism sector, the minister said some 1,494 had been approved covering the full range from straw vendors to taxi drivers, tour operators, scooter rentals, jet ski operators and zip line operators.

As for those rejected, Mr Rolle said they should look at NIB’s replies and see why this was the case. He added that some had just placed their name on the form, with no other details submitted.

Conceding that NIB will take a financial hit for performing its reason for being, the minister added: “The benefits paid out by NIB already outstrip contributions paid to NIB since 2016. After feeling the effects of Dorian, the Board is in a place where it must brace for a major drawdown of its resources.

“The drawdown is to the tune of $16m a month above what is normally budgeted by the Board. We are preparing for increased sickness benefits paid out as a result of the quarantine and isolations by the Ministry of Health.

“NIB has prepared a five-year strategic plan but this crisis has brought us to the point where we must implement some of the things planned for the future.”

Mr Rolle added that NIB’s early payment of April’s pensions had injected $20m into the Bahamian economy, and he pledged: “I want Bahamians to know that NIB is coming to their rescue, and the Government of the Bahamas is coming to their rescue at this time.”