Medical and Dental Charging Policy Revised

24 June 2022

Government

Workers, dependants and contractors will no longer pay for services accessed

The Employment Ordinance 2022 was introduced into law on Monday 20 June 2022. One of the provisions of the new legislation is that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that appropriate medical and dental services are available to their staff and dependants whilst they are in Ascension.

The legislation also requires that any charge for services delivered is not passed on to an employee from their employer. This means that an employer cannot require a worker, accompanying dependent or contractor to contribute financially toward any treatment or care that they receive.

In order to ensure that any charges levied on employers for services provided to their employees are done so fairly, AIG has published the Policy on Charging for Access to Medical Services. As the provisions of the new Employment Ordinance were introduced from Monday 20 June, the Policy on Charging for Access to Medical Services is applied to any services provided from an AIG medical or dental facility from that date.

The policy introduces the principle of “entitled” and “non-entitled” organisations. An entitled organisation is considered to be any firm that is liable to pay either the Business Levy or Corporation Tax.

Any individual (employee, dependant or contractor) associated with an entitled organisation will receive necessary medical or dental treatment without a fee for that service being charged to their employer. Anyone associated with a non-entitled organisation will still receive necessary medical or dental treatment, following which a fee for that service will be invoiced to their employer.

As noted, where a fee is charged to a non-entitled employer, that employer will not be able to pass this cost back to the individual in question.

Copies of the policy are available online through the AIG website, or through the Administrator’s Office in Georgetown.