Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 25, 2017 News
By Leonard Gildarie
I have lots of relatives and friends in the US. Many of them would love to come back home, but
they have nowhere to go. I see them when I visit and there is that frantic look that seems a permanent fixture of their being. Always on the go. Their lives have fallen into a routine of work, laundry, grocery and much-needed sleep.
Many of them stay because of the security of the system. There are unemployment benefits, tax refunds and of course, pensions and the health care. Nobody wants to grow old without a pension.
In Guyana, unless you benefit from the state’s Old Age Pension and NIS, the majority of Guyanese are forced to depend on family, a little side business, or even working after being retired. I fear for our seniors. I fear for me and my family. Yes, it is a tough life.
On Friday, I saw a release from Government, quoting Traffic Chief, Dion Moore. The official warned of the dangers of using privately-owned cars as taxis.
In addition to the very real risks of somebody you don’t know picking you up, there is another major issue. That privately-owned car is not insured to do taxi work. As a passenger, in case of any accidents, you are un-insured. It means that if there is an accident, and you are injured, the insurance company can rightfully refuse to take care of your hospital bills. If you die, your family gets nothing. In other words, they’re left in the cold.
I stand in front of Kaieteur News sometimes and would wish the police would monitor what is happening in the La Penitence area. In the evening rush hour, I swear that there is a death wish, with especially the mini-buses. There is undertaking, overtaking, and the passengers seem incapable or unwilling to voice their concerns.
A few weeks ago, a minibus and pickup collision on a city street left a well-known sports coach dead. This forced government to build several speed bumps at key points to stem some of the madness. However, the recklessness continues.
I fear for passengers, as the insurance coverage is negligible.
I pay about $10,000 annually for insurance of one of my cars. It is third party. It is not enough for what is needed if something happens. I have fire insurance on my home. I am thinking life insurance, as I am worried about my NIS and its coverage if something happens to me or any one of my family members. The policies are with different insurance companies.
I do intend to somehow find the money and ask one company to offer me a policy package that will include life, fire and car insurance. There must be some discounts available.
Health care coverage in Guyana is a must, if one intends to seek private hospital interventions, in case of an emergency. It is no secret that our state’s hospitals are way below par. We simply do not, as a country, have the resources to meet the costs of health care that are up to the standards of what prevails in developed countries.
I recall speaking in 2013 with well-known insurance broker, Bish Panday. He urged for the then Government to make changes to the legislation that will see passengers of minibuses and owners of vehicles being offered more protection.
The current insurance limits, as they pertain to auto coverage in case of accidents, date back to the 1970s, and should be amended to reflect current times, he argued. He pointed out then that there have been complaints of hapless passengers who died or were severely injured in vehicular accidents, and whose families received a mere “pittance” from insurance companies.
The problem, Panday explained, lies in the current Insurance Act. While other forms of insurance exist – like the comprehensive policies – the current third party coverage has basic problems which are leaving holes in the pockets of Guyanese.
”Back in the ‘70s, if someone got into an accident, they could have received up to $20,000. That amount back then had the value of what was like US$20,000 ($4M). We can’t have people receiving $20,000 now.”
The limitations of the current laws posed significant challenges. For example, if someone ends up in an accident and the repair bill for the vehicle is $600,000, but the limit of the type of insurance that was taken out is $300,000, then the owner is in the hole for $300,000.
The situation with public transportation like minibuses makes the state of affairs even more critical.
Passengers will not receive more than $20,000-$25,000 each, under most basic third party insurance.
Panday, in proposing the third party limits be raised, said that it should be somewhere in the vicinity of $500,000 for any one person and $1M for an accident, gradually increasing over a three-year period to $1.5M and $2.5M respectively.
”Yes, it will cost more, but it will also ensure that passengers and vehicles belonging to others are covered in a more meaningful manner,” the broker had urged.
Since then, although the country has tweaked its insurance laws, these basic issues were not addressed. By law, vehicle owners have to take out insurance. The majority of folks I know settle for third party policies. There are very little benefits from these, obviously.
Insurance companies seem reluctant to push the boundaries. Maybe things are being done behind the scenes. However, we see little of these campaigns. Many of the companies seem comfortable collecting premiums on policies taken out because of mortgages. They seem comfortable collecting on the third party insurance for vehicles.
We have to start thinking outside of the box. A move has to be initiated to update the current Insurance Act to raise the limits on third party policies.
I believe that health and life insurance should not have to cost an arm and a leg. We have over 700,000 persons living in Guyana. I bet that at least 80 percent of them don’t have life and health insurance.
How about exploring packages that do not expose the insurance companies to unnecessary losses but offer something for the normal working man?
There is a huge market here that needs to be tapped into. The insurance companies will make money. They play a critical role. Health care is so critical to our people. Some people definitely cannot afford medical insurance, but it does not mean we can’t start thinking differently.
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