Ministry waits on invoices to pay health insurance

| 14/07/2020 | 60 Comments
Cayman News Service
Health Minister Dwayne Seymour

(CNS): Health Minister Dwayne Seymour has said that people who are depending on their health insurance being paid via government’s Health Insurance Premium Payment Assistance Programme are covered, even though not all premiums have been paid. Problems with the assistance scheme were revealed by CNS Friday, and it is still not clear what has gone wrong. But Seymour has now implied that the ministry is waiting on invoices from the insurance companies before it can pay the premiums.

On Tuesday Seymour issued a recorded statement seeking to reassure people that they were covered, but CNS understands that this is not necessarily the case as not all insurance companies are in agreement with the ministry.

Nevertheless, Seymour said the Health Insurance Commission was liaising with insurance companies about retaining cover for customers while the ministry waits for the invoices. The HIC is administering the programme, which was created to cover, for at least three months, the premiums of furloughed workers who are not being paid as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But CNS learned last week that the premiums for those who had successfully applied and been approved for the help were not being paid, and as a result the health insurance companies had suspended or frozen cover.

We sent inquiries to the ministry but our questions were not answered. It remains unclear what had caused the delays in payment and why requests for invoices from government to the insurance companies were reportedly only made late last week for a scheme that was announced in May.

However, Seymour stated Tuesday that the ministry had received two invoices from approved health insurers on Friday and several more on Tuesday and it would be working to get them paid. He said that the ministry would now “provide a quick turnaround for settlement”, and that the scheme was designed to make the people’s health and well-being a priority.

Seymour said that so far 77 applications had been approved for payment of April premiums, totalling CI$83,872, and another 140 for May premiums, totalling CI$123,777.


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Category: Health, Health Insurance

Comments (60)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Caymanian cultures “take no responsibility and no one will be held accountable will continue unabated. Yes we see the problem. Yes we will tell you what you want to hear. No we will not hold anyone responsible. No we will not fix what to us is not broken. Don’t like it then leave. Plenty more dumb expats to take your place.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The two main things people are worried about – their health & their money – there’s absolutely no excuse for not ensuring insurance and pension are available to those who need it in this worrisome time. Treat people as you would like to be treated.

  3. Anonymous says:

    soon come! wen you ridi’n in on a donkey, tingz take longer

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Pathetic for life.

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  5. Sucka Free Cayman says:

    You mean God Bless CNS & CMR Anon 7:46am for seeking justice and recourse because had this not been brought light i am absolutely sure nothing would be done or acted upon to resolve or remedy this situation! How many false promises have been made by the Govt?? Too many to count!

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Wendy, can we get an on the record statement from one of the insurance companies with their side of the story? It would most likely confirm the MoH operates on the principal of fire, ready, aim.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Why would you want to leave Paradise?

  8. Anonymous says:

    May God bless you richly Jon Jon. Bodden Town stands with you!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes this shows all these foreign trouble makers who come here to upset everything are once again wrong. I feel these people should get the hell out of Cayman ASAP since we are all way below their expectations. Most are racist bigots anyway. Keep up the good work honorable Seymour!

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      • Anonymous says:

        It is to bad they don’t have a cure for stupidity. because you really need some help. If foreigners had not come to our islands we would be like haiti or dominican republic where they don’t have nothing like we have. You don’t know nothin.

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        • Covid Man says:

          You are a bigot and your kind should leave ASAP. The only reason Cayman has anything is because of foreigners? This is exactly what is wrong here right now as your kind come here and think you saved us.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I think Cayman Islands would be much better off if they would just send off all the many ignorant fools who contribute nothing to the islands and live off of everyone else good hard work. Nothing to do with race. No respect shown none given. There are not many of you and a lot of us. If I were you I would be silent and thankful ASAP.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But of course, you’re not a bigot…

    • Bodden Town East Association of Exempt personal Trainers says:

      Yes we stand right next to you Jon jon to make sure Bodden towners never ever make this mistaken again! and to ensure the first lady of Curfew Workout does not have to suffer the ordeal of yet another Fooo fool rigged investigation for breaking law!AMEN

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Blame the Chief Officer for not following up.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    So can I use this excuse for my house insurance? Wait until I have hurricane damage claim before paying my premium? Get in a car accident before paying my car insurance? How does this even work?

    The insurance companies are agreeing to pay out coverage which may be less than the premiums paid 3 months late? That makes no sense to me. What am I missing here?

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  11. Anonymous says:

    The shit show continues. Even their own CINICO is a disgrace when it comes to pay outs.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Bet the invoices are in the Government PO Box and nobody has been checking it given Post Office closures. Why the insurers still post documents (same as hospital invoices) is unbeknown to me. But then again the MoH is incompetent so suspect it’s a combination of both parties cocking up.

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  13. Neverwannabeacivilservant says:

    The Minister does not have to worry he’s covered from head to toe for life for free.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I knew the whacky private sector was responsible for this. Can you guys get anything right. Why do I have to wait 2 months for my pension money and only days for my trade and business license?

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      • Anonymous says:

        You must be a troll, because no one can be so stupid as to suggest that the private sector is responsible for Dwayne’s ministry not paying its bills.

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        • Anonymous says:

          It’s not their bill. And that ministry has had enough fiascos in the past with paying things without proper invoices.

          Need to have a solid audit trail. If they didn’t send an invoice via email then shame on the insurers

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          • Anonymous says:

            Would you call CUC after not receiving a bill for 3 months to enquire about the monthly bill or would you carry on unbothered?

            No bill received therefore nothing to pay? Seriously? You know CUC will at some point cut your power and your argument about not receiving a bill will get you no sympathy

  14. Anonymous says:

    “We sent inquiries to the ministry but our questions were not answered” If I had a dollar for every time someone said that about this particular ministry.

    This is simply the lastest excuse, obviously, they knew about the policy decision for the program but conveniently sat there because they thought they had an excuse of “no invoice”.

    We blame the Minister and criticize him severely through this forum, and deservedly so, but we have to also acknowledge that the Minister doesn’t write checks, it is the technical staff within his Ministry, led by his acting Chief Officer that appears to be failing him time and time again.

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    • Anonymous says:

      3:32 you are so wrong. If they ministry had paid the insurance companies without a invoice we would be screaming bloody murder.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You are assuming that they never got and lost or ignored the invoices, of course.

        I suppose its possible that several private sector, profit driven insurance providers simply neglected to send a bill and hoped the money would arrive by magic. Possible, sure. But when you consider all the times that you submit paperwork to civil service departments, and they lose it, and then say you have to resubmit it, or the issues over paying the school bus companies, you wonder if there isn’t a more plausible explanation. Like they lost them. Or ignored them. Or even – that they didn’t tell the insurers where to send them? And brushing over the fact that even if they hadn’t issued the invoices, the government department sponsoring this didn’t wonder where the bills had gone against the line item and budget they had approved. No one followed up on the point until it hit the press?

        But we will never know unless the auditor general investigates this, because sure as shoot, Dwayne clearly has no intention of explaining it – hell, he wont even deal with it in a press conference but just sends out a pre recorded message.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sweetie, that man can barely sign his name on a cheque. Honestly. What more can we expect?

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      • Anonymous says:

        True, but that’s why the public coffers pay for over 3,500 Civil Servants to support the elected officials. Franz need to also be held accountable for the incompetence of his Civil Servants, especially in the Ministry of Health.

        Lack of accountability for an over bloated Civil Service is a clear and present danger to the sustainable future of the Cayman Islands.

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        • Anonymous says:

          How dare you speak about FRANZ in a non flattering manner ..don’t you know he is the ruler the Boss the Don learn respect … he runs this place

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  15. Anonymous says:

    And still no press conference. We now deal with public concerns and press inquiries with a recorded statement to avoid any awkward follow on questions. Like why the invoices were only requested last week. We are supposed to assume that the insurance provider expected to get paid without invoicing? Or perhaps the government sort of forgot to advise the insurer that they were meeting the bills and to send them the invoice in the first place!

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Up all night working out late night deals.

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  17. ANONYMOUS says:

    What a load of happy horseshit – does this clown expect us to believe that all these invoices from the insurance companies suddenly arrived on his desk just as CNS exposed the whole sorry and sickening mess. And why would they suddenly demand payment so long after they had “suspended” the medical insurance policies. Does he imagine we are as stupid as he…….
    Perhaps he also needs to spend some time studying the Law of Probabilities……..

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    • Anonymous says:

      2:03 yes that’s when the insurance companies woke up

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ah, so your version is they woke up to the fact they hadn’t been paid AFTER they suspended or cancelled the cover for non payment? Yeah, that makes sense.

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  18. Anonymous says:

    Will they be delivering the cheques by donkey?

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Why is the Cayman taxpayer picking up the insurance premiums for hundreds of foreign nationals whose work permits should have been cancelled if their employer has no work for them to do and cannot bear the cost of continuing their employment?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perhaps because, assuming that we have an ounce of humanity, we recognise that it would be absolutely appalling to have people stranded here with no access to medical care?

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      • Anonymous says:

        The public hospital cannot refuse care, regardless of insurance coverage.

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        • Anonymous says:

          In which case the cost of uninsured patients will be picked up by government. So it makes perfect sense to hedge that liability by insuring them with the private sector.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Understood, but why should I be paying instead of their employer?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Why is the expat taxpayer not entitled to representation? They pay the Lions share but are not entitled to anything? If this is the standing deal in Cayman Islands good luck getting expats to come back.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Actually expats do not pay most of the taxes. Work permits are paid for by their employers. If an expat is paying for their own work permit, rather than an employer, then they (and their employer) are both criminals.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Well maybe if the gov (deliberately in lower case) opened the borders, we could get off this rock and not have to wait for repat flights. It’s a win-win.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because the Premier announced on CIGTV that Cayman is the kind of place where we make sure that no one goes hungry or wants for medical cover because of circumstances beyond their control?

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    • Anonymous says:

      You mean the financial services industry picking up the tab through their contributions to the government treasury?

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  20. Jon Jon is Gon Gon says:

    Why is this joker still around?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because as dumb as he obviously is he is still smarter than the voters who voted him in and let him do little more than nothing to earn his salary. Is that clear enough for you?

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