A cross-party committee is to be set up to tackle the high cost of health and property insurance, Finance Minister Rolston Anglin said on Thursday.
Anglin said the government would lead an economic and actuarial review of both markets and look at the feasibility of national healthcare and property insurance plans designed to stabilise premiums, boost resilience and improve access.
He told Parliament, “Our healthcare coverage and property insurance markets have been largely distorted by the fact that government typically takes all the risk while the private sector takes all the profits.
“That model cannot continue in this country. We must ensure that what we do in Cayman is best fit for our market and our conditions ….”
Invitation to opposition
Anglin said opposition members would be invited to join forces with the government to help.
He added, “This review will entail the establishment of a bipartisan committee to make its recommendation on the possibility of creating such a national offering.”
Joey Hew, the opposition leader, said after the delivery of the budget speech, that he welcomed news of the bipartisan approach to healthcare.
But, he said, his People’s Progressive Movement was concerned that were not enough in the budget to provide “immediate relief” to Cayman residents struggling with the high cost of living.
Anglin added he hoped the MPs on the cross-party group put political rivalries and egos aside to work hard to draw up proposals for healthcare and insurance coverage.
He said, “We are going to establish a committee … housed within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, that is not just going to be government, and then making a report to the opposition.”
Anglin said, “I implore the members who will be on the committee to review national healthcare and healthcare coverage to work diligently and tirelessly. Check political differences and egos at the door.”
He noted that paying for healthcare is “one of the single biggest costs to the modern Cayman family and, so, if we can do a better job at seamlessly delivering those services and protecting our families in their time of crisis, that is healthcare crisis and protecting their properties”.
He added, “Just that alone will go a long way to driving down the cost of living and having Caymanians have more disposable income at their fingertips to take care of their families.”
Rising healthcare costs
The cost of healthcare has traditionally been one of the biggest single expenses for government.
In this budget, government has allocated $86 million, split equally over 2026 and 2027, of public funds for ‘tertiary’ – specialised and complex – healthcare in Cayman or overseas for Caymanians who are uninsured or underinsured.
Separately, it also plans to spend $28.3 million on standard medical care for ‘indigents’, people unable to afford insurance or medical care, in 2026, and $25.3 million the next year.
Several successive government have under-estimated the total cost of such healthcare demands in their budgets, and have had to seek additional millions of dollars in supplemary funding subsequently.
In the budget released in 2023, for example, government earmarked $18.6 million for tertiary care for 2024, but was later forced to allocate an additional $33.8 million in supplemenary funding to cover costs for that year. Similarly, in that budget, $12 million was allocated for indigent care for 2024, but an extra $13.8 million had to be later found.
Anglin has described the larger amount set aside for healthcare costs in his budget as being more “in line with realistic and transparent budgeting”.
The Compass has reached out to the Cayman Islands Insurance Association, which represents the industry, and the Cayman Islands Medical and Dental Society for comment.
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