The Government’s Senior Shield Health Care System for the elderly who are seventy years and older was launched on Monday 24th April, 2023.
Scores of seniors gathered together in the Conference Room at Government’s Headquarters to witness the ceremony that marked the opening of Senior Shield. It takes effect as of Monday 1st May, 2023.
Under this medical care plan, all registered seniors will benefit from free medical attention in the areas of doctor consultation, physiotherapy, dental care, ward accommodations, and visits to accident and emergency.
Moderator of the ceremony was Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ms. Rochelle Rogers. She presented an overview of the Senior Shield.
“Senior Shield is designed to provide subsidized coverage [of] public sector health services for Anguillians seventy years and older. In order to access this programme, persons must complete the registration process that includes providing evidence to support their eligibility. Such requirements include an Anguillian birth certificate, a passport, and/or an Anguillian status (formerly known as “belonger status).”
Registration information will be reviewed, and once approved, eligible persons will be issued a medical subsidy card which will be presented at the Health Authority for payment of their medical services.
President of the Anguilla Retired Persons Association, Mrs. Mona Fleming, rated the Senior Shield programme as “manna from above” and said that she hoped the medical subsidy programme would be successful.
“Let me say I greatly appreciate having this opportunity to voice my thoughts on what free access to health care for Anguilla Seniors would mean,” she said. “In most developed countries, there are medical programmes to assist seniors. These seniors are on small fixed incomes and they must cope with the ever rising costs of goods and services. As a player on the world stage today, Anguilla is an infant that can’t even walk. But we still have to be on the stage dealing with the same needs, but with insufficient resources for assisting our seniors.”
“In my work with the Anguilla Retired Persons Association, I have dealt with persons who live in what we would describe as ‘shacks’. Many of these persons are in dire need of health care of dental care, but must forego seeing a doctor in order to buy food,” she said. “A programme such as Senior Shield that can assist Anguillian Seniors would be like manna from above. So let us accept this medical subsidy programme, which I hope will be successful, as it is necessary for our seniors.”
Well-known senior and community personality, Teacher Janice Hodge said she was thankful for the Senior Shield.
“To be young is beautiful,” she said, “but youth does not last. As we age, sickness also sets in. When I looked at my parents and the older loved ones in my life, there was no way I could imagine myself being their age…But God has been good to me. I am now seventy-one years of age.”
“I am sure that my brother had wished it was possible for my mother to receive free tablets, for he was the one responsible for providing the medication which she needed. That was not to be then, but here am I, many years later, and I am on the verge of receiving free medical attention as a senior citizen,” Mrs. Hodge said. “Now I can roll off a list of what I have benefitted from as a senior citizen – food vouchers, paid electricity bills; and now the bomb – I am a recipient of Senior Shield.”
In expressing her gratitude, she said, “I would like to say thanks to the APM Administration for remembering and continuing to honour the senior citizens of our beloved Anguilla.”
Other persons highly commended the Government’s initiative in taking on the essential medical care plan, among them the Chairman of the Board of the Health Authority, Dr. Clyde Bryan.
“Many of our elderly have chronic diseases. They take multiple kinds of medication at significant monthly costs. These costs to the elderly are now historic. They are gone permanently,” he said “Our elderly can now benefit from free services that the Health Authority of Anguilla provides. These among others include diabetic foot care, regular community nurse visits, and the services of a geriatrician who is a specialist doctor at the Central Polyclinic, who cares for people over the age of 65.
The Honorable Minister of Social Development and Education, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers spoke in glowing tones about the new medical programme.
“We are reminded that our older generation has contributed immeasurably to the growth and development of our nation. However, opportunities for them to pursue new activities and their neglected passions are often limited by ill-health. This is why the Senior Shield Programme is a significant milestone,” she said.
“In the Ministry of Social Development, we currently have one hundred persons over the age of seventy who receive medical exemption cards with 100% of their medical bills covered by the Government of Anguilla,” she said. “But now, under the Senior Shield Programme, over eight hundred ‘seasoned citizens’ are welcomed to access this free health care service.”
The Honorable Premier, Dr. Ellis Webster, who is also the Minister of Health, spoke directly to the seniors in the room: “We, who have benefited from your sacrifice, can show you the respect and love which you deserve. Besides, I want to thank all who have committed to this programme, even as you have committed to Anguilla.”
“It was Abraham Lincoln who once said ‘The legitimate object of Government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot do for themselves’,” Premier Webster said. “That is why the Vision Statement of the APM reads: ‘The Anguilla Progressive Movement understands that enhancing the foundation of a great society means investing in its people and empowering them through programmes which focus on their wellbeing by establishing a wellness concept and improving the quality of health care.’”
He said that the costs associated with the Senior Shield Programme will be borne by the taxpayers of Anguilla.
“The policy of free health care for Anguillians seventy years and older has been a priority of this administration and it has been a long time coming. On May 1st 2023, Senior Shield will be going into effect,” he said. “This free health care is funded from the consolidated fund. Therefore, it is paid for by the taxes that the Government collects.”
“However,” he noted, “the ability to provide access to better public health care is due to the United Kingdom Government’s funding of the upgrade and expansion of the Princess Alexandria Hospital, the lab, the Dialysis Unit, operating theatre, etc., and the rebuilding of the outpatient clinics.”
Her Excellency Governor Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam was present to compliment the determinant efforts of the Premier and Minister of Health in fulfilling his social responsibility to the people of Anguilla.
“With the focus on driving fiscal responsibility, it is incredibly heartening that we have been able to see the realization of the Premier’s priority and this important socially responsible program for Anguilla,” she stated.
“We are taught from an early age that we must respect and recognize our elders. We must acknowledge the hard labour and sacrifice which our senior citizens have made to enable us to enjoy the modern Anguilla that we have today.
The Senior Shield program shows tangible respect and recognition of that sacrifice and the duty of care that we owe you, our seniors – our precious and most beloved members of our community.”
Meanwhile, potential recipients of the medical subsidy card have been registering with the Health Authority of Anguilla in various locations on the island, in order to obtain free medical services which come into effect on May 1st 2023.
