By Aabigayle McIntosh

The government is re-examining the process to establish a National Health Insurance for Antigua and Barbuda with an indication that legislation could be introduced before the Parliament by the end of next year.

The plan was on the card for a while but had to be shelved due to the COVID-1p pandemic.

Prime Minister Chief of Staff Lionel Max Hurst confirmed this information recently.

“The National Health Insurance Implementation will very likely not take place until the end of 2025. We have to plan for it, and it is the plan that we are speaking about. This means that the Medical Benefit Scheme will somehow be merged with the health insurance and at some point maybe the scheme, this is part of the reason for the planning,” Hurst said.

He said they are enlisting the help from a group of experts to determine the best approach.

Among the immediate benefit of the National Health Insurance Scheme is the expansion of the health services now covered under the MBS Scheme.

A nine-member team made up of representatives from MBS and the University of the West Indies are working to determine the best implementation method.

“We do know National Health Insurance Scheme is superior to what we have here, although nobody in the region had anything like the MBS that Antigua and Barbuda adopted back in 1978. Several multilateral agencies have proposed that some countries adopt a model similar to what Antigua and Barbuda has, but that has not occurred,” Hurst said.