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News

The National Insurance Board

3/2/2009 12:00:00 AM

The National Insurance Board
Press Release



As of March 2, 2009, all claims submitted for short-term benefits by employed persons (i.e., persons who have bosses) must be accompanied by an Employers Certification form (Med 4). The new Med 4 form is a single- sheet addition to the Med 1, Med 1A and Med 2 forms. It requires the employer to certify that an employee is/was/will be off from work for the period stated.

In the past, only attending physicians and claimants were required to provide information on claims for Sickness, Maternity and Injury Benefits. Unfortunately, this permitted persons to receive income-replacement when they were, in fact, not off from work and were not losing any income.

To address this and to improve the claims management process, employers are now required to confirm the period that an employee is off from work by means of the new Med 4 form. Claims for Sickness, Maternity and Injury Benefits will not be processed without it.

The processing time for short-term benefits is currently pegged at three working days; the added requirement of the Med 4 is not intended to slow the process and is intended to ensure that claims are only approved for persons that qualify.

The new fom will be among those that each employer will be required to have in his workplace. Currently, all places of business are required to keep on-hand C10 (monthly contribution statement) forms; B60 (Interim Report of Accident) forms; and B44 (Employer’s Report on Accident at Work) forms.
The new Med 4 form will be placed on the Board’s website for easy access.
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On September 2, 2009, Prime Minister the Right Honourable Hubert Ingraham, tabled in the House of Assembly the report of the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which was completed and formally presented to Government in 2008. The Report, which covers a review period from January 2002 to December 2006, gives a comprehensive assessment of the current and future finances of the National Insurance Fund, and reviews the state of the country’s primary social security system from a social standpoint, assessing the adequacy and relevance of the level of benefits now offered. The Review, like all others prior to it, makes recommendations designed to strengthen both the social and financial aspects of the Fund to ensure that National Insurance is able to meet its obligations well into the future. It takes a historical look at past trends and experiences as well as makes financial forecasts for the future. Demographic and financial projections up to 2066 have been presented.
A “business person in Fox Hill” suggested in a letter to the Editor (What’s Going on at NIB? – Tribune 23/09), that with the recent move of Inspectors from the National Insurance Board’s Fox Hill Local Office to its Jumbey Village Local Office in the Clifford Darling Complex, the Board’s operations in Fox Hill will close down. According to Greg Collie, Senior Manager for Compliance with responsibility for the Inspectorate, nothing could be further from the truth. He said the Fox Hill Local Office is not closing down.
Response to Tribune article
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Derek Osborne, Consultant Actuary at the National Insurance Board is advising the public that though the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which includes long-term projections of the Fund and recommendations aimed at enhancing the Fund’s long-term sustainability as well as its ongoing relevance, has been completed, it has not yet been tabled in Parliament as is required by law.
Algernon Cargill, Director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) is responding to a Tribune article (March 12, 2009) that suggested that members of the business community are in a state of “enormous consternation” over the Board’s current and ongoing process of updating its contribution records. Though NIB has addressed this issue in the recent past, the NIB Director wishes to say once again that the Board is obligated by the National Insurance Act to ensure that all employers have paid the amount of contributions due for each employee for each month, and that contributions submitted are accurately posted or deposited to the accounts of the appropriate employees.
NIB Compliance Press Release
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
As was reported in the local media recently, the National Insurance Board (NIB) is increasing its review of the contribution accounts of delinquent employers and self-employed persons in order to ensure compliance with the National Insurance Act (the Act).
Press Response on clear policy
2/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
The National Insurance Board’s (NIB) primary objective, as mandated in the National Insurance Act, continues to be providing income-replacement for workers when they are unable to work. To deliver on this income-replacement promise to workers of The Bahamas, NIB collects contributions from self-employed persons and from employers on behalf of employees.