STU/66th Council/14/013
29 September 2014

THE MEDICAL BENEFITS FUND

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO IT?

WHO IS MANAGING IT?

WHY ARE WE NOT BEING INFORMED?

The short answer to those questions is that NOTHING is happening and NOBODY is sure who is managing it - and that is a matter of major concern for ALL participants – the co-owners of this Fund.

Some facts

1. It is just over a year since the Extraordinary General Assembly of Participants took place on 4 September 2013. It resolved (see Resolution) that it was premature to take a decision on the proposed new Rules and governance structure, requested an audit by the External Auditor and decided to adjourn the Assembly until the requested External Auditor’s Report was made available to it. To date there has been NO REPLY to or even acknowledgement of the letter of President of this Assembly to the Director-General concerning the Resolution adopted by the Assembly, which is still adjourned. Thus we do not know whether the External Auditor has even been asked to undertake a full performance audit of the MBF. The Summary Report of this Assembly has not been issued.
2. There has not been a meeting of the Board of Management since 14 October 2013, despite several requests by elected representatives to call a meeting. No minutes of that last meeting have been circulated to Board members. No financial statements are available for the Fund which had an income of $26 million in 2013.
3. The annual General Assembly of Participants , due in the first quarter of the year, has not yet been convened in 2014.
4. Elections to the Board of Management were due in September 2014.
5. The Secretary of the Fund has been on sick leave since October 2013, and may have taken early retirement. There has been no Ivory Note about his replacement.
6. Despite the policy of using a quarterly bulletin to keep participants informed, there is NO INFORMATION available about any of these matters.

This situation could have serious consequences for all the participants in the Fund, i.e. all active staff who are compulsory participants and the many retired staff who remain as voluntary participants.

Do you know what percentage of your net salary or pension is taken to provide you with this most essential social security cover? It varies from 3.16% to 6.50%, depending on how many members of your family are covered. So have a look at your payslip to see how much you are paying for your health insurance. Since it is not clear who is managing the MBF, decisions could be taken unilaterally to raise and change contribution rates, as well as drastically reduce reimbursement rates.

STU has written on several occasions to the Director-General expressing its concern about the governance of the Medical Benefits Fund, but to no avail, and so we are drawing your attention to this total lack of respect for staff, for the Rules of the MBF, and especially to the absence of any attempt to inform us about what is being done with our funds.

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