00:00On Monday, officials of TUTOR and the PSA delivered a letter to Chief Personal Officer
00:05Daryl Dindial, calling on him to resolve the problems facing monthly paid government employees,
00:11including teachers, under the Unimed plan which is under M&M Insurance.
00:17The joint letter comes after previous letters and protests by TUTOR failed to yield any
00:22results pertaining to long delays in the payment of claims to workers, making deductions and
00:29even enrolment of employees into the plan.
00:32First Vice President of TUTOR Adesh Dwarka tells us, this lack of response is the reason
00:38both associations have united on the matter.
00:41Dwarka says prior to 2022, claims would take around one to two months to be settled.
00:48Subsequent to that now members have to wait two years, right, to actually access monies
00:53that are owed to them and what is very frightening is that the amount of money, it is not like
01:01we have a $20,000, the plan now is in excess of $15 million worth of claims that have already
01:07been settled, agreed to settlement, but no money to pay.
01:11TUTOR says the monthly contributions of workers, which represent 40% of the total, are still
01:16being deducted.
01:17What is absolutely horrendous is that we have members who depend on the little remittance
01:26so that they can continue to purchase medicine and continue to deal and to treat with their
01:31illness in a timely manner, right, but they cannot wait two years for a claim to be settled,
01:38right, and also members have died waiting on reimbursement.
01:42Dwarka adds that although some workers have opted for other insurance plans, because Unimet
01:48is the primary plan, the other co-insurance companies have to wait for that issue to be
01:54settled first.
01:56He says a meeting between the government and M&M insurance is needed.
02:01Based on what M&M insurance is indicating is that they need to have a meeting, they
02:05need to revisit the plan, right, they need to be able to come up with solutions to be
02:09able to deal with the issues facing the plan currently.
02:14That may mean an increase in rates, right?
02:18Now that is fine as long as the members are paid for what they are owed.
02:23We're told that the agreement for the plan was signed by both associations and the CPO,
02:29and they are making yet another plea.
02:31So we are now asking him to take the relevant steps to be able to deal and to treat with
02:36this particular issue in a timely manner.
02:38And we would have given him until the 21st of February 2025.
02:42Failing which, he says, further action will have to be taken.
02:46If it is that the membership of both associations decided, OK, it's time to go to court,
02:52and that is more than likely what's going to happen.
02:55Because we cannot have our members paying their due on a monthly basis,
03:01and nothing is being given to them in a timely manner in return.
03:05Tutor notes that an audit was conducted on the plan by the government,
03:09but the association has neither been privy to the findings nor the recommendations.
03:14Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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