MAJ raises concerns about tax on group health insurance

Another group has voiced anxiety with regards to the government’s decision to impose General Consumption Tax (GCT) on group health insurance premiums, effective April 3.  
   
Dr. Myrton Smith, President of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ), says the organisation is concerned that the move will make it difficult for persons to afford coverage.

"We're under-insured as a nation. We don't have enough people who have private health insurance. The 25-30% of Jamaicans who do, will now have an additional cost to bear on top of their premiums, and we're concerned that the increased cost will be passed on, not held by the employer, but passed on to the employee; and what some persons might want to do then, is either to reduce the benefits in order to lower the premium, or drop out completely." 

Dr. Smith said this will force many persons to flock to the already over-burdened public system.

Meanwhile, he said the thought that employers will volunteer to bear the costs related to the payment of GCT on health insurance is at best erroneous and at worst, disingenuous.
 
"I fully expect that most employers will pass it on the their employees as an additional cost. I don't anticipate that the vast majority of employers will absorb the cost...In fact, government has a record of passing on increases in premiums to, certainly for us as doctors, so how can we say that they will absorb the cost, much less another employer; and the government is a major purchaser of group health insurance," he pointed out. 

The MAJ, as a result, is calling on the Government to reconsider the tax.

"It's either they're gonna roll it back or simultaneously announce measures that will improve access to health care for the vast majority of Jamaicans, and we're talking about the kind of health care that now many of them have to seek in the private sector," Dr. Smith asserted. 

He said the group is concerned about the effect the tax will have on the management of major diseases, such as cancer.