Most countries with National Health Insurance have a separate statutory body to manage NHI because of the unique characteristics of health coverage. This allows money for health services to be kept completely separate from pension contributions. Otherwise, it would be easy to spend pension money to pay for health care needs, which require immediate expenditures, and not have enough money for pension payments when the money is needed.

Separate Statutory Body

In the TCI, the NHIB is a separate statutory body established by legislation, like the National Insurance Board. This allows the NHIP to have funds that are separate from the Turks & Caicos Islands Treasury. This means that contributions to NHIP will only be used to pay for health insurance for the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The NHIP has its own Board of Directors, like the NIB and a separate management structure consisting of an Executive Director who reports to the Board, a Chief Financial Officer and a Medical Director.

Cost-effective Operations

The NHIP wants to run its functions as cost-effectively as possible and has contracted with the NIB to enroll individuals and collect contributions on its behalf. This means that the NHIP does not have to create a whole new infrastructure to collect and account for contributions. This will also make it easier for employers and the self-employed, because they will be able to work with the same officers to handle enrolments and payments.

Unlike pensions, National Health Insurance has many functions that are unique to paying for medical care. These functions will require specialized expertise and NHIP will initially contract with a private company skilled in health insurance operations to ensure cost efficient operations and high levels of customer service. These will be supported by state-of-the-art information technology that can grow as our population grows.

Building Reserves

All insurance plans need financial reserves to pay for benefits. The NHIP will need to build adequate reserves in its early stages so that it can pay for medical care when the new health care facilities are up and running. Therefore contributions into the NHIP began from November 1st 2009 about five months ahead of the opening of the new facilities.