SSB Faces Rising Demands Due to Increased Cancer Diagnoses

As more people are being diagnosed with cancer, especially women, the Social Security Board (SSB) is seeing a demand for additional payouts. The SSB, which has historically seen claims for accidents or injuries, now recognizes the urgent need to modify its resources to accommodate an increasing number of cancer patients. In his discussion of the trend, SSB CEO Dr. Leroy Almendarez acknowledged the difficulty of caring for patients who are unable to work because of illness.

Dr.Leroy Almendarez, CEO, Social Security Board: “There is an increased prevalence and there are two ways that gets addressed. Remember now, due to illness you can also be unable to work anymore. The question is whether or not you have reached retirement age because retirement age is at 60. If it’s prior to that, then that’s why we have grants and pensions, right? You can get a lump sum grant or something like that. The other avenue that we use that we have our social security development assistance, because of the prevalence, there are many, not only women, but men as well who have cancer cases or cancer cases and there are allocations that are given through that committee to assist these individuals as well.”

The SSB is attempting to adjust its resources in response to the increasing demand for cancer-related assistance.