In
response to concerns from some members of the community the Ministry
of Health can confirm that the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) has
approved 235 applications under the program to assist with
continuation of health insurance premiums for persons affected by the
COVID-19 crisis. These were broken down as follows:

• 
  April
  – 100 applications were received. 77 were approved for payment =
  CI$84,492.13. These covered 559 employees and dependents.
  
• 
  May
  – 186 applications were received. 148 were approved for payment of
  $128, 212.27. These covered 809 employees and dependents.
  

The
Minister of Health Hon Dwayne Seymour remarked, “There has been
worry that persons who have applied to the HIC have lost coverage,
however, the public should be aware that the HIC has been liaising
with the approved insurers to submit their invoices for settlement of
the April and May premiums in order to get this finalized quickly.

As
of Friday, July 10th
2020, the Ministry had received invoices from two approved insurers,
with the remaining six insurers pending submission. I would like to
assure the public that now that the remaining invoices have been
received over the past two days, the Ministry will provide a quick
turnaround for settlement. We continue to work tirelessly behind the
scenes to ensure that our commitment is finalized.”

Addressing
the concerns, Mr. Mervyn Conolly, Director of Department of Health
Regulatory Services and Superintendent of Health Insurance explained,
“ The Hon. Minister announced the program on the 13th
May and at the time it was projected that several hundred
applications would have been submitted. The HIC recommended that the
notice to stakeholders in regards to April’s submission be extended
to the 27th
May to allow more time for the submission of the application”.

Despite
this,100 applications were received and processed for the April
premium payment assistance covering approximately 559 persons, while
186 applications were received and processed for the month of May
covering approximately 809 persons. Now that all invoices have been
received we should be able to get caught up fairly quickly.”

Editor’s
Note: The
health and well-being of Caymanians and residents remains the
government’s highest priority. The Ministry of Health through the
Health Insurance Commission are committed to not only helping to
prevent the spread of COVID-19, but to also furthering its ‘access
to healthcare for all’ approach, through the Health Insurance
Premium Payment Assistance Program.

“As
everyone is painfully aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented
persons and businesses with very challenging and unexpected
difficulties; the Cayman Islands being no exception. I am pleased to
see the Ministry of Health, through the Health Insurance Commission
(HIC) deliver on the vision of Hon Minister Seymour of providing
assistance to members of our community with payment of their health
insurance premiums during the months of April through June 2020,”
said Acting Chief Officer Ms. Nellie Pouchie.

Minister
of Health, Honourable Dwayne Seymour, announced the Health Insurance
Premiums Payment Assistance Program (PPAP) in May. He explained at
that time that the purpose of the program is to assist needy
employees with the maintenance of their health insurance coverage.
This would be done by subsidizing the payment of their health
insurance premium due to the subsequent closure of many businesses,
which resulted in many employees losing their jobs or being
furloughed.

The
HIC in consultation with the approved insurers, offered the
opportunity to the public to submit their requests directly to the
HIC for consideration. All of the approved insurers had agreed to
extend the health insurance coverage to those persons who would be
approved by the government (via the application process) for
assistance with their health insurance premium payments for the
months of April, May and June 2020. The approved insurers therefore
agreed to “hold coverage” for persons who had applied to the
PPAP.

An
application form was created to assist applicants with supplying the
required details which in turn were reviewed and evaluated by HIC for
consideration. The HIC collaborated with the approved insurers to
verify the information provided by applicants. Those that were not
approved did not meet all of the criteria set forth by the HIC. All
eight approved insurers had clients who took advantage of the
opportunity.