Insurance for Labour dept

THE Department of Labour and Industrial Relations has proposed a compulsory health insurance scheme for employees as an alternative to healthcare funding.
Consultant with the department Michael Gene said the National Department of Health and Department of Labour had set up a joint team to plan a successful implementation of the policy on health insurance.
Mr Gene said that the current situation for both the public servants and private sector employees was that:
* Claims for workers’ compensation for injuries and deaths is slow and problematic; 
* Go PNG policy of “self-insured” for its public sector workers is problematic and inefficient;
* There are no insurance cover for disability or prolonged illness (worker, family and dependents); and
* There is no scheme to cover workers from new diseases (HIV/AIDS, bird flu and swine flu) or catastrophic illness, disaster and crime.