Hundreds of Thousands of Jamaicans Accessing Affordable Healthcare

Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans are benefiting from affordable, safe, and effective medicines and health products as the Government continues to increase access to quality healthcare.

Through the National Health Fund (NHF), patients in the public and private health sectors receive subsidised drugs to treat chronic conditions such as cancers, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, among others.

This is through the provision of the NHFCard and the Jamaica Drug for the Elderly Programme (JADEP) Card.

There are more than 760,000 beneficiaries enrolled for NHF and JADEP, with 346,466 active NHFCard holders on the Individual Benefits Programme as of October 31, 2023.

In October, five new conditions were added to the NHFCard programme, namely, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Myeloma, Thyroid, Colorectal and Lung Cancer.

This brought the total number of conditions covered to 22.

The additional benefits resulted from beneficiaries’ feedback, after the NHF embarked on a review.

“This represents an estimated $450 million in additional subsidy and will see some 47,000 Jamaicans benefiting from this programme,” Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton said.

Other chronic illness covered include asthma and subsidy for spacers and masks, arthritis, breast cancer and breast cancer receptor studies test, benign prostatic hyperplasia, diabetes and diabetes programme, epilepsy, glaucoma, high cholesterol, hypertension, Ischaemic heart disease, Lupus, major depression, prostate cancer, psychosis, rheumatic fever/heart disease, Sickle Cell disease, thyroid disease and vascular disease.

Chief Executive Officer at the NHF, Everton Anderson told JIS News that through the NHFCard, the agency provides a significant subsidy for pharmaceuticals.

“We have 461 private pharmacy providers and through those pharmacies you can get a reduced cost for your medication. We also support the health system through projects, so we do a significant number of capital funding for projects. We are also actively involved in health promotion and protection programmes, and in more recent times we have taken over the management of public pharmacies through our network of Drug Serv pharmacies,” Mr. Anderson stated.

The CEO explained that the subsidy provided for the NHFCard ranges between 44 per cent and 45 per cent.

“What we try to do is have some sort of tiered subsidy mechanism because some drugs are so expensive. So, for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other cancers that we cover, we try to be at least 50 per cent up to 70 per cent of the cost in terms of the subsidy. Without that a lot of persons would not be able to afford the medication that they need,” Mr. Anderson explained.

Jamaicans can access the benefits provided by filling out an application form, which is free of cost.

Persons will need to include their Tax Registration Number (TRN) and have their doctor certify the application and affix their signature and registration number.

Individuals can then submit the application to any of the NHF’s 21 NHFCard centres islandwide for processing within 15 minutes.

“The card can be used immediately upon receiving it. In cases where you cannot get a TRN, we have created some special registration numbers because we did not want persons to not be able to access the benefits,” Mr. Anderson said.

NHFCard centres are located at the major hospitals across the island, including the Cornwall Regional Hospital and the Kingston Public Hospital.

Meanwhile, the NHF covers a number of supplies as it relates to the illnesses covered.

Senior Director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at the NHF, Ainsley Jones, explained that the NHF provides subsidies for supplies such as needles, lancets, and test strips for diabetics.

For men, the NHF also covers the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and this was added in February 2023.

Mr. Anderson said the Agency has tried to focus a lot on male health, especially so since some men do not take their health as seriously as females.

“We have added the PSA test in order to really reach the males who may be at risk, because prostate cancer too comes with very serious consequences, so we have to be ahead of the curve with that,” the CEO stated.

The JADEP programme, which is for Jamaicans who are 60 years and over, offers drug agents of about 77 pharmaceuticals, for which the NHF covers the full cost.

“So, the patients can access these medications at our JADEP provider pharmacies, of which there are about 300 across Jamaica. When the patient enters the pharmacy, they would have had their JADEP card provided by the NHF and the patient is only paying $40 per item up to a maximum of $240 for six items,” Mr. Jones said.

“So essentially the medications are offered to the patients free, and they pay the administrative fee of $240,” he added.
Since the NHF’s establishment in 2003, there has been approximately $60 billion in subsidy payouts, and approximately $80.7 billion spent on the public-sector pharmacy subsidy programme.

In addition, there have been approximately 1.3 million screening tests done in the last 15 years, and 863 projects have been approved at a cost of $22.8 billion.

To access these expanded benefits and others, members of the public can call the NHF at 1-888-DIAL-NHF (342-5643) or visit www.nhf.org.jm.