Amid growing calls for an inclusive and efficient healthcare system, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has once more hinted at plans to transform the National Health Fund (NHF) into a national insurance scheme to provide accessible and efficient healthcare to the Jamaican population.

Tufton made this disclosure during a contract-signing ceremony on Tuesday (August 15), at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

While Tufton did not provide a timeframe for this major overhaul in the healthcare system, he said conversations are still being on the proposed transformation of the NHF.

“There are some harsh decisions to be taken around health insurance which I want to put on the table again because we do need the NHf to morf into a national insurance scheme where those who can afford it contribute more, but never leaving out those who can’t, simple principle. There are some conversations that are taking place around that and I appreciate that those conversations will continue, you have heard me speak about that in the past,” Tufton said.

In 2019, the health minister tabled a Green Paper in parliament on a National Health Insurance Scheme to fund the healthcare sector.

This insurance scheme is set to be developed through the NHF, an agency in the Ministry of Health and Wellness that provides support to the national healthcare system to improve its effectiveness and the affordability of healthcare for the Jamaican population.

“The reality is, it doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, once you sign up on an illness category, you benefit once you have that particular illness, so if you have cholesterol you benefit and it doesn’t matter if you are from uptown, downtown or middle town,” the minister said.