Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
The National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) is partnering with local providers to increase services in the Turks and Caicos as they attempt to keep Treatment Abroad costs down according to representatives who sat before the appropriations committee on Monday, April 15.
For the financial year 2024/25 it will cost $76 million to run the agency, an increase of $3 million over the year prior. The increase is credited to the Treatment Abroad Program (TAP), rising healthcare costs, and price increases in TAP countries.
Forcing the Board to consider using more local care providers are four main categories of illnesses, Ophthalmology, Adult Cardiology, ICU Care, and Vascular Surgery.
“One of our strategic plans is to partner with local providers to provide local specialty care on island to help with cost savings in terms of subsistence,” a rep explained.
Currently, the NHIB is responsible for providing overseas care for residents who need it, paying for their travel, and medical service, and giving them a stipend each day, it’s one of the Turks and Caicos’s biggest expenses.
By volume, ophthalmology care, or eye care, is the second highest rate of transfer at the NHIB and the cost of travel and subsistence outweighs the price of the actual ophthalmology procedures, sometimes by triple the cost.
Describing it as a process that does not make financial sense, the NHIB is partnering with local stakeholders to bring more of that particular expertise into the country as well.
Partners include not only the TCI Hospital but private doctors and clinics, as such local care is now budgeted at 30 percent more than before.
Even with the increase in local cost, the NHIB is not expecting to see an immediate decrease in Treatment Abroad costs overall however, managers explained to the Appropriations Committee, they are expecting a decrease of 10 percent in the amount of subsistence they have to pay daily.
In terms of improvement, the NHIB wants more investment in preventative care at the primary healthcare level.
Representatives maintain that every dollar spent on primary healthcare creates a $13 return on investment at the secondary care level.
The agency is also aiming to institute an electronic system where residents can make their claims online, as well as a complete overhaul of internal systems to the tune of $300,000 for this year.
