Permanent Secretary in the health ministry Elaine Foster Allen is flanked by Dr Angela Foster, head of the National Laboratory Servies; and Chief Medical Officer Dr Winston de la Haye, as she fields questions from members of the Public Accounts Committee, yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
THE controversial no user-fee policy implemented by the then Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government in 2008 has translated into public medical facilities subsidising health insurance costs, and it is time for the State to start fully recouping the costs of providing health care from these companies.
This was the argument put forward by members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament at a meeting held at Gordon House yesterday to allow the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) to respond to the findings of a 2015 performance audit carried out by the Auditor General’s Department.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Elaine Foster Allen told the committee that the four regional health authorities collected a combined average of $32.5 million monthly in insurance claims, but that “there may be scope to improve on that”.
Government Member of Parliament (MP) Leslie Campbell said the State has “failed miserably” to collect from insurance companies, arguing that these funds could cushion the cost to the health sector for trauma cases, which he said were in the region of $8 billion.
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