Opposition Spokesman on Finance Dr Peter Phillips has described as “pernicious”, the new tax on group health insurance premiums.
Noting that Jamaica’s health system is grossly inadequate to provide proper services to citizens, Phillips argued that no government in the past has ever taxed health insurance premiums.
He said the effect of this 16.5 per cent tax on group health insurance that the Government announced last week would be devastating on individuals.
Citing the case of a woman whose name he gave as Monica, a cancer patient who took early retirement, Phillips said she remained a part of a special group plan for retirees in the firm she once worked and pays insurance premiums of $14,000 per month.
With a fixed income, Phillips said the cancer patient’s medication without insurance is more than $40,000 per month.
According to Phillips, with Monica’s insurance coverage, she pays only $8,000 for medication.
