“The austerity measures also contribute to our delay of processing Medicaid applications for all three islands,” she added.
She said their office cannot process incomplete applications, adding that they have already informed their Rota representative about this issue.
Rep. Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota, earlier informed the Department of Public Health about the uncertainty faced by about a hundred Rota residents applying for Medicaid, a federal health program for low-income individuals.
Sablan said they have similar issues on Saipan and Tinian.
They will ask their Rota and Tinian representatives to help with the processing of the applications, she added.
They can also input the Medicaid applications into the system and forward it to the Saipan office for approval, she said.
Once the applications are approved, she said, they can print out the Medicaid eligibility cards on their perspective islands.
Sablan said the CNMI has a Medicaid population of 14,700 but only one eligibility worker doing the interview and processing the applications.
The worker is also responsible for answering urgent calls from recipients.
They can hire another worker, but since Feb. 28, 2010 the vacancy has not been filled because of some issues, she said without elaborating.
She noted that under the new budget law, all vacant positions must be certified by both houses of the Legislature.
“The reality is that we are short of staff and we have been communicating with our department that we need help,” she said.
Sablan said they were given one staff member who works at their office at least four hours a day.
She urged all applicants to call their office if they urgently need their Medicaid.
“We will try our very best to process their Medicaid applications either the same day or next day,” she said. For more information, call 664-4880/90.
