Dear Editor
In light of the recent public pronouncement by the honourable Minister of Finance for the National Insurance Scheme to improve its service to the public, I wish to highlight the callous and discriminatory acts experienced at the hands of this institution in seeking the sickness benefits that I am legally entitled to receive as a citizen of this country. In December 2017 I was ill and was given twenty-one days sick leave by my medical practitioner. I submitted my claims through my employer with all supporting documents. I received $2,625.00 (voucher#:3222899) for medical care on 2018-03-20. I have not yet received my sickness benefit payment for the nine days that the insurance scheme should be compensating me for as my employer has already covered me for the first twelve days of my sick leave. The records of my employer reflect that all my NIS contributions mandated under Chapter 36:01 National Insurance and Social Security Act have been remitted to the NIS and I am not in default of my statutory obligation. I have made countless inquiries in person and via third parties acting on my behalf and we were told by staff members that NIS is not honouring claims above a certain sum of monies. When I made further inquiries as to the reasons for this I was told that the entity was in a financial crisis and given two telephone numbers to call (226-9867 and 227-3461).When you are finally able to speak to an officer using the numbers provided, the officers claimed that they are not the ones in charge of benefits and hence transferred the call to other departments whose personnel were of no help.
The National Insurance Scheme has a legal, moral and ethical obligation to honour claims in a timely manner and having to wait twenty-two months and not having any positive response from the organization is truly a repulsive experience. As a public service institution in the twenty-first century, NIS needs to better understand its obligations to the public as outlined by the Minister and ensure that it provides a service that matches those expectations.
Yours faithfully,
Michael G. Baird
