IT is sad to see one of our major providers of medical services being forced to stop seeing patients because of “non-payment.” However, Dr. Al-Alou must be commended for making a hard BUSINESS decision. The doctor is caught between his oath to provide healing services to people and the obligation to his own employees and creditors. This decision-making process is something our legislators sadly lack.
The immediate reaction as noted in the Variety, coming from Retirement Fund Board Chairman Camacho was a not too covert threat that as a non-local provider, Dr. Al-Alou and Pacific Medical Center may never be reinstated by the Fund as an approved provider. It would be interesting to analyze the number of outstanding claims, the dollar amount of those claims and the length of time those claims have been outstanding with the record of payment and who received payment for all claims. I challenge Camacho to bring this information to the upcoming meeting with providers. And of course all Camacho wants “is patience.”
The Fund will now dispute each and every pending claim in an effort to put the onus back onto PMC. The $200,000 in outstanding claims is a drop in the bucket to what is actually out there. How long does it take to process a claim? Surely not six to eight months. And part of the basic problem is with our legislators. Sen. Ramon Guerrero says he “will not tolerate the displacement of government employees who are GHLI members.” He and his peers on Capitol Hill should have been able to see down this road when they reduced or failed to forward the premiums paid by government employees for both insurance and retirement on to the Retirement Fund. Instead, that money has been used to cover personnel costs and the result is coming back to haunt Dr. Al-Alou. He and other private providers should not have to shoulder the cost of the welfare state-employment agency we have become.
This situation must be addressed immediately. Notwithstanding Zaldy’s column on April 12, the economy actually may not survive the departure of the garment industry. I do not advocate any special treatment for them; in fact I think we should get what we can from them while they are here. We advocate this approach with each and every tourist that lands here, why not the garment people? The government must critically analyze the state of the Japanese economy, the state of our environment in relation to luring tourists and develop a real commitment to hard decision-making.
We could have funded an additional police officer or teacher with the raises the governor proposes for those few favored people. This flaunting of power, wasting money, and consistent shirking from responsibility must stop. I bet if Chairman Camacho or Senator Guerrero were not paid for 6 to 8 months they would start making some noise just like the private providers are doing.
JIM BREWER
Dandan, Saipan
