Silk said that 100 Marshall Islanders could die if these services are terminated next week.
Hawaii’s Health Department, citing lack of reimbursement from the U.S. government for the costs of providing these health services, earlier this month set Sept. 1 as the date when all citizens of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau will lose eligibility for Hawaii’s low-income health insurance program Quest. The state plans to shift the approximately 7,500 islanders resident in Hawaii to a new basic health insurance program that will not cover dialysis and such cancer treatments as chemotherapy. Dialysis is a costly blood purification process that helps patients suffering from kidney failure, a symptom of late-stage diabetes, which is a growing problem in the Pacific.
Silk said Wednesday this week in Majuro that U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie from Hawaii has added an amendment to President Obama’s pending health bill to make citizens of the three island nations eligible for Medicaid, which would resolve the health coverage problem if passed, and said he has asked Lingle to extend the cutoff deadline.
“The proposed curtailment of services will affect approximately 50 Marshallese citizens undergoing scheduled dialysis treatment, and a similar number receiving regular chemotherapy for cancers,” Silk said to Lingle in a letter obtained Wednesday. “While I understand the economic realities of today, I would ask that you view this situation as a humanitarian crisis for many Marshallese whose lives are literally at stake.”
Silk said he understood that U.S. funding for Compact-Impact costs of islanders living in Hawaii and elsewhere “is not nearly enough to cover the reported annual cost incurred by the State of Hawaii.”
Compacts of free association between the three north Pacific nations and Washington allow for visa-free travel to the U.S. for islanders to live, study and work. The compacts also provide $30 million annually to reimburse Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas for health and education services provided to islanders moving to these U.S. locations. But Hawaii health officials say the $11 million they receive annually does not begin to cover the health coverage provided, and the state services are facing a tide of red ink.
“The state is in a fiscal crisis and simply cannot afford to fund the federal government’s obligation anymore,” said Dr. Kenneth Fink, who runs the Hawaii state Department of Human Services Med-Quest program.
Silk commented positively on Abercrombie’s move in the U.S. Congress to make islanders eligible for Medicaid, and asked Lingle to “reconsider the changes to the Hawaii Quest program and continue with the medical coverage for dialysis and chemotherapy treatments for at least the next few months to give the U.S. Congress the opportunity to deliberate and, hopefully, allow for the Medicaid coverage of FAS citizens.
“Hawaii has always been the one special place within the United States that has reached out to help its fellow Pacific Islanders, and it is in this spirit that we urgently seek your help and intervention.”
