Which benefits should NIS continue, add or eliminate in the reform? Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

Barbadians are being given the opportunity to contribute to a possible new design for the National Insurance Fund.

With an email address, suggestion boxes islandwide and a series of Town Hall meetings slated for this week in various parishes, the hope of the government of Barbados and the National Insurance Board is that employers and employees will step up to the plate and voice their concerns, hopes and wishes, while pitching ideas to solve this pre-crisis Fund issue on our doorsteps. In recent days, it has been projected that on the current trajectory the Fund will be depleted in as little as 12 years, so in 2034 or “on a more optimistic outlook, it could be in 2041”.

Speaking during a press conference over the weekend, the question posed to the NIS Actuary Derek Osborne was, “Which benefits should NIS continue, add or eliminate in the reform?”

To which he replied that that is one of the goals of the stakeholder engagement exercises. “Those are the questions I think consultations are going to help answer. You know, what’s the priority, what’s important? […] Do we add new benefits” at this time or add and delete at the same rate so that there is no change essentially?

However, he stressed that changes to the pensions are the key factor to turning around the negative outlook of the NIS Fund, not changes on the short-term benefits side.

But he went on to say that the benefits on offer can be evaluated so they fit the demand, climate, and current environment. He made mention of the survivor’s benefit paid at age 50 and if that age should be revised in this 21st Century time, or a flexible invalidity benefit in cases where people recover, and he highlighted the paternity leave and subsequent paternity benefit discussion as well.

NIS CEO Kim Tudor added that the paternity benefit is in fact coming on board shortly. She said that the plans are very advanced with the NIS presently working out “what amounts that can be paid, and so forth, the actual mechanics…”

NewsAmericasNow.com