COVID Payments Still Being Paid Under Sickness Benefits  

While the COVID pandemic hit Belize hard starting in March 2020, claims for the virus surged throughout 2021 and 2022. Although COVID is no longer a major threat to the general population, Almendarez mentioned that payments are still being made to COVID patients. He explained that these claims fall under sickness benefits.

 

Dr. Leroy Almendarez, C.E.O, Social Security Board

“The prevalence was more around 2020, 2022, something like that because even though we all know that since, there has been a decline, it has not gone to zero. What we also have is really a distribution of the number of different diseases that when it comes to the short term branch and sickness benefit claims, but  it’s not that we have stopped, every claim is assessed because at the end of the day, we have a responsibility to make sure that whatever monies are paid out, it’s because they should be paid out.”