SINCE THE NATIONAL Insurance Scheme (NIS) was launched , thousands of Jamaicans have signed up for the programme and have been making contributions.
However not everyone knows how to access their benefits or how to get on the programme.
According to the Ministry of Labour, the scheme provides benefits for persons within a number of areas such as retirement and death of a spouse. The scheme covers a number of persons who have been placed into different groups by the ministry.
It covers employed persons which include private household workers such as butlers, chauffeurs, cooks, gardeners, general helpers, housekeepers and nurse-maids. It also covers civil servants, members of the Jamaica Defence Force and members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Self-employed persons are also eligible under the scheme and these include higglers, hair-dressers, doctors, Jamaican nationals employed in foreign missions or embassies in Jamaica.
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
Persons can also become a part of the scheme by making voluntary contributions. Voluntary contributors are described as insured persons who have made a specified number of contributions as employed or self-employed but are no longer allowed to contribute in either category because they have retired, become unemployed or relocated abroad for an indefinite period.
Persons on the programme who are seeking to claim under the insurance programme should file a claim within 12 months of entitlement to benefit. Claims must be made on the prescribed National Insurance number and other relevant supporting documents. All claim forms are available free of cost at parish offices. For further information about how to benefit under the programme, persons may contact their parish office.
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