by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 7, 2024
The Social Security Board (SSB) held a media mixer on Thursday, November 7, in Belize City with discussions centered around contributions, sickness claims, and workplace accidents.
Social Security provides protection to individuals and households to ensure access to health care, and guarantee income security in case of sickness, maternity, employment injury, invalidity, unemployment, old age, or loss of a breadwinner.
It responds to the universal need for protection against life risks and social needs, and reduces poverty among vulnerable populations.
“Social Security provides social protection, and is based on solidarity. It is all of us pulling into the fund or contributing to the fund, and based on your contributions you might put a little less than somebody else, but at the end of the day you’re still able to access the same benefits that I would access versus what you would access if maybe you contributed a little bit less,” said Vanessa Vellos, Communications and Public Relations Manager at SSB.
Jerome Palma, Deputy CEO of SSB, illustrated figures from 2019 indicating that contribution revenue has exceeded its Short-term Branch Expenditure. The figures demonstrate that its contribution revenue increased from 22.5 million in 2019 to 24.4 million in 2020, then there was a dip in 2021 to 22.3 million and it skyrocketed to 31.5 million last year.
Meanwhile, the expenditure figures started with 15.5 million in 2019 with a slight decrease the following year. In 2021, it grew to 17.4 million, peaking in 2022 at 23.2 million, and decreased last year to 21.4 million.
“When we look at it, immediately that is showing a picture of a healthy fund that is showing something sustainable,” said Palma.
“Every year we pay a lot of sickness benefit. That is what SSB does; that’s part of the contribution. Most of these are for persons who are working; they have to be off from the job,” he mentioned. “When we look at that information in sickness, it supports the contribution and the development of the entire country. It supports its sustainability and getting people back to work,” he added.
Palma noted that sickness claims rose to 63,741 in 2022, as the country opened up and persons were being infected by the COVID-19 virus. Also, in 2019, there was an outbreak of dengue and claims rose to 53,607; and in 2017, claims grew to 59,286, as there was an outbreak of conjunctivitis (pink eye).
“We recognize we’re a healthy workforce. There has to be a conversation in promoting wellness in the office space. If people are not feeling well, it may be better to be out of the office to reduce the spread. It’s a significant impact, and we see most of the claims coming from things like your common cold, and the flu season,” he expressed.
Palma spoke about injuries in the workplace, primarily in the agriculture sector, and said 2013 was the highest with 600 accidents happening.
“We encourage a healthy and safe workplace, because remember, it’s not only injuries. There are diseases that can be caused by asbestos and those kinds of things as well. You hear a lot about that in the United States, and so what happens? Payouts become much, much higher,” said Dr. Leroy Almendarez, CEO of SSB.