PM Briceño Defends NHI Bill After Opposition Calls It a “National Hustle” 

The growing clash over the National Health Insurance Authority Bill has the Prime Minister and Opposition at odds over whether Belizeans will eventually be forced to pay mandatory contributions on top of their Social Security payments.

Prime Minister John Briceño pushed back on those claims today, saying any future contributions are not part of the current plan.

“It has nothing to do with putting a tax on people right now for the primary health care services that we are offering at almost free under the NHI,” he said.

Briceño said the provision being questioned is forward-looking at eventually expanding NHI beyond primary care to include secondary and tertiary services, modelled on systems used in countries like Costa Rica. According to Briceño, government currently injects around twenty million dollars annually into NHI through taxpayer funding.

“But in the future, once it is properly operating and running, we could look at probably providing even more services,” he stated.

The remarks come in response to UDP Leader Tracy Panton, who, on Tuesday, called the bill “weak on accountability” and “vague on financing.”

“This bill opens the door for Belizeans to be taxed for NHI. You will pay SSB and you will pay NHI. But the government must be honest; this is not national health insurance. This is what I call a national hustle insurance.”