On August 18, 2011, Kamala J. JnoBaptiste-Aaron Communications Consultant and Public Spokesperson for the ECCU/BAICO Health Insurance Support Fund, founded by the Governments of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, announced the first payment of claims by the Fund.
The Fund was established to help bring some relief to health insurance policyholders whose claims could not be met because of the collapse of British American Insurance Co. (BAICO).
The announcement which came in a release said: “Three months after the launch of the ECCU/BAICO Health Insurance Support Fund (“Fund”), the Governments of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union are pleased to announce that the Fund has issued payments to meet the unpaid health insurance claims for the first group of BAICO health insurance policyholders who submitted applications.”
The release said that so far, over one thousand (1,000) applications from BAICO health insurance policyholders across all eight ECCU member territories have been received.
The ECCU Governments was the still encouraging BAICO Health Insurance policyholders to submit applications to the Fund with a view, “to reaching those affected policyholders, as that remained the Fund’s top priority.
The Fund will remain open until the end of December 2011. This closing date expected to provide ample time for affected policyholders to seek assistance.
The Fund had set a deadline for /Submission of Applications’
which “MUST be received by the local BAICO branch no later than 31st December, 2011. “
Thereafter, “Applicants should allow up to 90 days for processing once they have submitted their completed Applications. As a final caution the release stated, “Payments will not be made on any Application until it is fully processed.”
The Fund was established as a trust, under a Trust Deed that outlines the operating rules for the Fund. The ECCU governments have appointed a special purpose company called ECCU Health Insurance Support Inc as the trustee.
