WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao government has issued an advance payment of seven million guilders to the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC). This amount is intended to cover healthcare costs for the uninsured in 2023. Previously, the new hospital had received nearly twenty million guilders for the period from 2019 to 2022. The new advance of seven million is expected to alleviate the current liquidity issues.
According to Article 21 of the National Ordinance on Healthcare Institutions, Curaçao is obligated to support hospitals like the CMC in providing emergency medical care to the uninsured and undocumented. This makes the country responsible for covering these healthcare costs.
Over the past eighteen months, the government has disbursed nearly fifty million guilders extra to the CMC. This amount includes the aforementioned twenty million for uninsured healthcare costs, eight million as an adjustment to the healthcare budget from November 2019 to December 2021, over one million for CMC accreditation, and nineteen million for transition and startup costs from 2019 to 2022.
The CMC still needs to substantiate twenty million guilders of transition and startup costs with invoices and payment receipts before the government can proceed with reimbursement. Despite multiple requests, the CMC has not yet submitted this substantiation according to the Ministry of Finance.
Both the government and the CMC are working on structural solutions to the hospital's financial problems. These solutions are in the final stages and will soon be presented to the Council of Ministers. The CMC director has indicated that elective care will remain guaranteed and that waiting times can be reduced with a contribution of around ten million guilders.
SVB Involvement
Today, the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) provided an advance of three million guilders to the CMC. The government will additionally pay out the aforementioned seven million guilders on Monday. If the CMC submits the necessary payment receipts for the paid transition costs, the government will reimburse nearly three million guilders. This means that the CMC will receive a total of nearly thirteen million guilders in advances, sufficient to guarantee elective care until the implementation of structural solutions later this year.
The seven million guilders advance is provided under several conditions, such as ensuring salaries, elective care, and tax obligations for 2024 are met. The CMC must also provide a monthly updated liquidity forecast and a creditors list. The Ministry of Finance will monitor the spending of the advances, if necessary, with the help of the government accountant SOAB.