Philipsburg:--- The National Health Insurance Plan (NHI) that the Former Commissioner and Minister of Health Maria Buncamper Molanus said was ready for implementation since January 2010 is far from being completed.SMN News learnt that the technocrats that are working on the NHI took the entire draft back to the drawing board because the projections were way off. The source said the NHI has to be revised and certain areas must be reconsidered. Concerns are being expressed on the packages that will be offered as well as the premiums and the collection of those premiums. "If Government had implemented the draft NHI on 10/10/10 that would have been a major disaster for St. Maarten, because of the lack of clarification and assurance, the current Minister of Health has sent this plan back to the drawing board and has said that the NHI will only be implemented when it is fully completed and would answer to the needs of the people living on St. Maarten."
In an invited comment, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams said there is no projection date at the moment for the implementation of the NHI. She further explained that in the past a study was conducted and a timeline with different target dates were mentioned with the last one being January 1 2012.
Wescot Williams said the current Minister of Health has been very clear on his opinion of the NHI and as such the Minister does not wish to pinpoint another date for the NHI implementation until some other steps in the plan are taken into consideration.