NIB director: Dorian exposed need for electronic payment of benefits

NIB director: Dorian exposed need for electronic payment of benefits
NIB Director Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Hurricane Dorian has exposed the need for the National Insurance Board (NIB) to introduce additional payment methods, according to its Director Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle.Virgil-Rolle said the board will soon introduce a request for proposal for an electronic payment solution.

She was addressing the Long Island Business Outlook yesterday.

“Dorian showed us we have to have more methods for payments,” she said.

“Currently we pay via direct deposit which is a major way we pay pensions and certain short term claims. We also pay by cheque and there are many reasons people prefer a cheque.

“We know there are times where you may not be able to negotiate a cheque.”

Virgil-Rolle continued: “We are exploring innovative payment methods where an RFP will be coming out shortly where we are seeking to deal with some type of electronic payments.

“We know that there is work happening currently through the Central Bank on electronic payments. We want to join that process. We are also looking at upgrading our NIB smart card toward a type of debit card where we can preload benefits and persons can access them through an ATM.”

Virgill-Rolle also noted the Board is looking to allow for the online submission of claims.

“We want to make sure we have online forms which are validated. We are going to be piloting that with our funeral claims and our pension claims as well,” she said.

Last month, the National Insurance Board announced the launch of a three-month pilot online employer self-service (ESS) portal aimed at eliminating the NIB contribution backlog.

The Employer’s Self-Service (ESS) portal is just the latest tool being piloted by the Board to improve its business processes for the many employers it serves.

Employers can log-on to the website to access the portal at any time to manage their NIB accounts, submit c10 contribution forms; make contribution payments using a debit/credit card (Visa or Mastercard only); and manage their employee  register.

According to NIB, one of the key benefits is that the ESS will digitize and simplify the process of  submitting c10s and making contribution payments, from anywhere and at any time.