INDIVIDUAL RESTITUTIONS
Most pensioners complained about pending restitutions. Individual amounts of Naf 3.000 to Naf 150.000 were mentioned. Some retirees were waiting more than four years now on the restitution of their medical costs paid cash which until today were not refunded. Representatives of the ABVO-Council of Pensioners will follow up on these individual claims to speed up the restitutions to the pensioners.
SERVICE COMPLAINTS
All agreed that it takes too much time in getting an answer from FZOG in Curacao on requests for referral to specialists, requests for glasses, etc. When finally you get an approval for further medical treatment although the French side could provide these treatments and is nearby for pensioners on Sint Maarten, decisions of FZOG oblige pensioners to wait to be send to Curacao or Aruba for treatment. And then when sent to Curacao the daily allowance you get to pay the hotel, transportation form the hotel to the doctor or the hospital is too low. You end up to pay from your own savings to cover all the costs incurred, which is not fair compared to pensioners on Curacao who do not have to leave their island for further treatment and who do not have these extra costs and discomfort.
IMPLICATIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION FOR FZOG-CARDHOLDERS ON SINT MAARTEN
With the announcement that the tasks of the central government are being transferred to the island territory pensioners want to know if they still will depend from FZOG Curacao or if the decisions concerning their requests now will be made in Sint Maarten.
DECENTRALIZATION OR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS WITH SVB-CURACAO
Some questioned the fact that the island government has informed the Island Council that Sint Maarten will enter into service level agreements with SVB until the National Health Insurance System is being introduced on the new date mentioned 1-1-2012. Why entering a service level agreement with SVB Curacao, if Sint Maarten can take over SVB-Sint Maarten and equip it as soon as possible to improve the services? Why not integrating the offices, the workers, and the services from BZV in Sint Maarten with those from SVB in Sint Maarten like was done already in Curacao? Why cannot BZV and SVB in Sint Maarten be made independent from the integrated BZV and SVB from Curacao? This waiting for decisions from Curacao takes too long, why not having all decisions being taken immediately here in Sint Maarten?
