Monday, May 15, 2006
A "loophole", which would allow politicians to join a health insurance scheme at a moment's notice if they became seriously ill - and which sparked controversy when exactly, which was done in 2002 to pay off-Island medical treatment for the late Tourism Minister David Allen - is to be closed.
In the interest of fairness to all those who could pay premiums to be part of the Government Employees Health Insurance (GEHI) Fund, MPs and Senators would no longer be able to jump into the scheme to receive immediate insurance for costly bills.
There are more than 6,500 policyholders in the scheme, with nearly 4,500 additional policies covering dependants. It was originally a health insurance fund for civil servants but was expanded in 1998 to allow MPs and Senators to also join.
The tightening up of the scheme was announced by Finance Minister Paula Cox as she presented an amendment to the House of Assembly, which restricts entry to the scheme by politicians to the first three months after they are elected or appointed.
If they do not take up the option within those three months they, and their non-employed spouses or even dependants must wait for six months to be enrolled - or a shorter period to be determined by committee - before being admitted.
And the upper age limit for employees' children who could be included in the scheme
Providing they are full-time students is to be raised from 21 to 27 by the Government Employees (Health Insurance) Amendment Act 2006.
posted by kanth
@ 1:48 AM
permanent link | Post a Comment |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home