By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

DEMOCRATS have introduced a bill aimed at alleviating the increasing cost of health insurance for government employees, retirees and dependents.
Bill 28, introduced by Sens. Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, Tina Muna-Barnes, D-Mangilao, and Judith Guthertz, D-Mangilao, seeks to mandate the government of Guam to shoulder the deductibles required for participation in GovGuam Group Health Insurance.
The proposal was first introduced by former Sen. Benjamin Cruz in the 28th Legislature in response to the Guam Federation of Teachers’ call on the government to pay their fair share toward government employees’ healthcare. 
The maximum amount that GovGuam contributed to their workers’ health insurance in fiscal year 2006 was only $2,600 per active worker per year.
GFT has been requesting that the GovGuam contribution be raised to $9,851.33 per worker per year, which is the national average in 2005 for both active and retired workers so that families can afford decent healthcare.
The bill seeks to provide  “a permanent solution relative to the large group of retirees and survivors age 65 and over, who are currently ineligible for enrollment in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B as a result of past policies of the government of Guam.”
“This movement of elder retirees and survivors from the group health insurance program will also positively impact the insurance pool for which the group health insurance premiums are based, resulting in the continued reduction of healthcare costs being born by the active employees of the government,” the bill says.
Under the bill, the government contribution for health and dental insurance would be uniform within each class , including separate classes and rates for retired employees and their survivors, for all competing plans.
The government contribution would be not be less than 50 percent of the lowest premium for a single employee.