Philipsburg: ---BZV card holders can now breathe a sigh of relief as the island government of St. Maarten and the Pharmacy Association St. Maarten reached an agreement. In a press release the Association said the Island Government cards as well as BZV cards are now accepted at the pharmacies on St. Maarten.The associations states that the island government has guaranteed timely payments to the pharmacies.
Given our financial situation we could not afford to extend more credit and we made the difficult decision to stop accepting the Island Government/BZV insurance cards as form of payment.
In the meantime, finance commissioner Xavier Blackman also in a press release said that
During its meeting of June 1st, 2010, the Executive Council made a number of decisions aimed at structurally solving the issue of medical care for all BZV cardholders. Based on the ongoing discussions with the health care providers during the past months, the conclusion is that the core of the problems lies in the backlog in the financial administration of BZV and the financial reporting to both the health care providers and government. The last financial account of BZV in the possession of government is the one of 2007, and because of this backlog neither government nor the healthcare providers can conclude the financial reconciliation and payments.
First of all, the Executive Council took the standpoint that it is unacceptable for healthcare providers to stop accepting BZV cards because of administrative disputes and/or unclarity between them and government and/or BZV. In the opinion of the Executive Council, such disputes should not be settled over the backs of the patients who have BZV cards, but between the three parties in question.
Therefore, the Executive Council took the decision to come to an arrangement to make payments pertaining to all BZV card holders directly to the local health care providers, instead of having the BZV make these payments on behalf of government.
This solution will ensure that the payment arrears to the health care providers will be cleared up in the short term, while the verification between BZV, the health care providers, and government is concluded.
Government will meet with the local healthcare providers during the coming days to discuss this solution with them and make the necessary agreements to execute it as soon as possible.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Commissioner of Finance and representatives of the Commissioner of Healthcare met with representatives of the local pharmacies, PAS. Both parties discussed their points of view in a constructive manner, and agreed on an arrangement that will ensure the continued acceptance of BZV cards as of May 3rd, 2010.
Government will be meeting with the other health care providers during the coming days to make similar arrangements, and wishes to apologize for the discomfort the situation surrounding the BZV cards has caused to the cardholders.