The Dominican Social Security System (SDSS) operates on a deficit that the Superintendent of Health and Labor Risks (Sisalril), Fernando Caamano, calculates at about RD$100 million a month, while the system treasurer, Henry Sadhala, prefers to describe it as a lack of cash flow, which he says is RD$32 million. Both agree that they have seen the need to use the interest that is generated by the surpluses that accumulated when the Payroll Contribution Regime began in the Family Health Insurance (SFS).
The cause of the deficit, according to Caamano and Sadhala is the low salaries of the contributors and the increase in the number of non-paying direct dependents, but the Social Security Treasury has to pay for them and they increased by more than 100,000 in 2012. “The word ‘deficit’ is a little harsh, I would call it a lack of cash flow because we cannot talk about a deficit when on the other side we have a fund of nearly RD$7 billion pesos which is the Personal Health Care account, to which we go when we are lacking funds,” said Sadhala.
He said that there really is a difference between what is being collected and what they are paying the Health Insurance Companies (ARS) but that they have complied with the payments religiously and on a monthly basis. He said that the difference last month was RD$32 million and he hopes that the new salary negotiations lead to an increase in salaries, because this would increase the TSS income as well as the quote caps.