My good friend, someone very well-versed in economic and financial matters, in an anonymous comment to a post on this blog said “this will get your knickers into more of a twist”. Fortunately, I don’t wear knickers literally, but this news item in fact did, as the Brits would say, get my knickers into a twist. My friend who posted the comment was referring to the new health insurance plan of Maldives for the over-65s.
Where in the world do you get a health insurance plan that is not ‘means tested’, has no exclusion of ailments such as dental cover, and assumes the public to be “honest”, when filling out the forms because the prospective recipients of cover are “law-abiding and honest”? An insurance professional I talked to says that he is yet to hear about any country that is foolhardy enough to provide such coverage free of charge. The bit of googling I did to find anything comparable to this was also entirely abortive.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for President Nasheed’s initiative to provide a relief to the large number of people who are out on our streets literally begging for their life-saving prescription drugs. Providing health cover and a safety-net for our elderly folks is long overdue in this country. I have absolutely no doubt about that.
The health insurance cover, I understand, would be provided in addition to the Rf2,000 monthly retirement income that the government plans to give to our over 65s. With 13,000 people eligible today, this universal retirement pension scheme alone would cost our taxpayers a whopping Rf 300million annually. And in 20 years time this will spiral out of control to Rf900 million annually. As the health insurance scheme is not means tested and relies on the ‘honesty’ of those seeking the cover, I have no way of commenting on the cost of this scheme. But as an average man observing developments in my country, I can’t help being wary of how well the health insurance scheme and the pension plan were studied for their long-term fiscal sustainability. And in a country where almost three out of four people are below 35 years of age, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to find a vast majority of people skeptical on such a wholesale free transfer of resources from the current working population to the retired.
Where in the world do you get a health insurance plan that is not ‘means tested’, has no exclusion of ailments such as dental cover, and assumes the public to be “honest”, when filling out the forms because the prospective recipients of cover are “law-abiding and honest”? An insurance professional I talked to says that he is yet to hear about any country that is foolhardy enough to provide such coverage free of charge. The bit of googling I did to find anything comparable to this was also entirely abortive.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for President Nasheed’s initiative to provide a relief to the large number of people who are out on our streets literally begging for their life-saving prescription drugs. Providing health cover and a safety-net for our elderly folks is long overdue in this country. I have absolutely no doubt about that.
The health insurance cover, I understand, would be provided in addition to the Rf2,000 monthly retirement income that the government plans to give to our over 65s. With 13,000 people eligible today, this universal retirement pension scheme alone would cost our taxpayers a whopping Rf 300million annually. And in 20 years time this will spiral out of control to Rf900 million annually. As the health insurance scheme is not means tested and relies on the ‘honesty’ of those seeking the cover, I have no way of commenting on the cost of this scheme. But as an average man observing developments in my country, I can’t help being wary of how well the health insurance scheme and the pension plan were studied for their long-term fiscal sustainability. And in a country where almost three out of four people are below 35 years of age, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to find a vast majority of people skeptical on such a wholesale free transfer of resources from the current working population to the retired.
10 comments:
naimbey, kaleyah maa engenee ingey.
true. All of us understand that there is a need to do things quickly but it looks like things are now being done by the new government in a hurry with no thinking on their long-term viability and consequences. good post. rauf.
There will be many twists, one case i know, only medicines available in specific pharmacies are given.if not available what are patients supposed to do?
im sure himeyn ingilaab would say that this is also sustainable if the govt levies taxes. i read their comment on your last post on the pension plan for old age ppl.
regards, didi
Naimbe, I agree with you totally.
Whichever angle we look at, it's easier for us to mess up than do well, since all these decisions have been taken in a rush with no study of possible long term consequences.
We do agree that social benefits to the needy is a much delayed yet neccessary step in the Maldives' development process. A fair number of our people having to 'beg' for a mere necessity is unacceptable while others who are by birth or by influence eligible to glorified medical attention at the cost of tax payers.
The answer to all these seemingly unsolvable problems may seem like tax. However it just isn't something we rush into. We simply to not have the capacity to administer a full fledged general tax with a broad base. Major capacity building and further studies on economic distortions and long term effects are neccessary before we decide on a tax. Otherwise like all else it is just another opportunity for more corruption and possible increase in income inequalities.
You see we are the only country with honest law abiding people. After all we are 100% Muslims.
To Anonymous(the first comment),
Neygengnaa engey meehun dhakkaa vaahaka adhu ahan anga madhun laigen hurey.....a concerned maldivian citizen
.. not just yours. A lot of knickers are in twists..
As a testing matter, I would say that for last 30 yrs we were testing everythin....so I think now is the time to do things... tests are done by maumoon's regime- regrds salman
damn - now i cant get rid of the mental image of a knickerless naimbe :-) fazu, u got to watch what this guys writes!!!
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