WILLEMSTAD - The Minister of Public Health Dorothy Pieters-Janga says that the budget of the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) cannot be increased now. But according to CMC it has to. The hospital is a victim of too low rates, political decisions, and unexpected costs, according to the hospital's position.
The government and the CMC completely disagree on this issue. This was revealed during the hearing in the recent court case. The case is about the healthcare budget for the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) since the opening of the new hospital in November 2019. The amount of that budget that comes from the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) is 'essential for financing the operation and must at least cover costs', says CMC lawyer Eric de Vries in his pleading notes.
Because 'about 90 percent of the population is insured for health costs through the SVB' based on the basic health insurance (bvz). Because the calculation of the budget is based on outdated rates that were last adjusted in 2009, the CMC is granted permission by ministerial order to use new rates. Based on this and the demand for care in the former Sint Elisabeth Hospital, a first budget will be drawn up for 2019/2020. But this 'is not followed and the new rates are not accepted by the SVB', according to De Vries. And so, in a few years the loss rises to 114.4 million guilders and the debt to CMC Vastgoed to more than 68 million guilders.
“The sustainable operation of the CMC requires more than the incidental enforcement of a higher compensation than allocated”, explains lawyer Richard Pols the position of the Minister of Public Health. “The case is basically about the survival of the entire healthcare system.” Because the government has more balls to keep in the air than the CMC. It is about 'affordability and thus accessibility of all medical care', including that of, for example, general practitioners, pharmacies, and laboratories.
"The uncontrolled payment of more and more money to relatively expensive second-line hospital care will eventually lead to the bankruptcy of the health care system." Pols recalls that based on reports from external consultants, the allowable additional costs above the SEHOS (old hospital) budget of approximately NLG 175 million for 2018 and 2019 were set at 59 million. Of this, the government has funded 50 million through the 2020 budget and another 4 million later.
"It now appears that the CMC has allowed the additional costs compared to the SEHOS to rise many times higher," said the defense of the minister of public health. This concerns 100 million in 2020, 120 million in 2021 and, according to the budget, 130 million in 2022. Pols concludes: "The CMC has lost control of the expenditure and wants to submit this to the SVB through this procedure. This is not possible because there is no money.”