Kuartei said he clearly understands the burden that Freely Associated States (FAS) have on Hawaii, Guam and CNMI and that they are there looking for life opportunities. But he said FAS are three different entities with three agreements with the US.
“The statistics that they shared did not argue very strongly that Palauans were placing a very big burden in Hawaii,” explained Kuartei in an interview. “I need to know what is the actual number of Palauans — not Palauans who are US citizens — that are creating a burden to Hawaii so I can think clearly about what I need to do,” he said.
A previous article in Palau Horizon regarding the issue — which stemmed from Hawaii’s new and less comprehensive healthcare plan for FAS residents living in Hawaii — elicited comments online. Richard Salvador, a Palauan now living and working in Hawaii, wrote a letter to Kuartei, enumerating US expenditures on Palauans living in Hawaii.
According to Salvador in his letter to Kuartei, the total costs of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) spending for Palauans for Hawaii “include paying for the education costs of every Palauan child enrolled within any of Hawaii’s public education, the costs of every arrest made of any Belau citizen and all related costs associated with feeding and housing a Belau citizen held for any length of time within a Hawaii jail or prison, each and every cost resulting from all emergency health care services at Hawaii hospitals for Belau citizens who possess no health insurance, and every other costs incurred whenever a Belau person is held under the care and protection of the Hawaii State. The costs are not limited only to health care expenses in general, or dialysis and chemotherapy in particular.”
Salvador added in his letter that while Kuartei is right that there is a smaller percentage of Palauans accessing formal State financial resources compared to the citizens of Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the number of Palauans in that list is also significant.
“You are right to imply that most Palauans work, pay taxes and contribute to the Hawaiian society. But the proposed Basic Health Hawaii will actually continue some but not all medical benefits that most Palauans were not eligible for in the first place precisely because they are able to work and pay taxes,” Salvador explained.
Furthermore, Salvador said in his letter to Kuartei, “Minister Kuartei, I hope you do not fall in with this type of uninformed, unfair and angry crowd who have little to no understanding of the struggles Micronesians and Palauans engage in daily as they seek their fortunes in America. Ultimately, this has to do with the failures of our governments back home to provide the stable economic foundations that sufficiently provide for all of those who have chosen to leave home to seek their fortunes abroad.”
Kuartei said he thinks Salvador misunderstood him. He said he does not argue about the expenditures, he knows that numbers as it was presented to him by the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii.
As a member of Compact Review, Kuartei said he traveled to Guam, CNMI and Hawaii, “We sat with the governor of Hawaii, and she said that Palau does not impact Hawaii very much,” shared Kuartei.
“All I am asking, and has asked repeatedly, is can someone clearly give me the actual statistics of Palauan citizens (not Palauan ethnicity who are U.S. citizens) who places the burden to Guam, CNMI and Hawaii (and elsewhere in the US for that matter) so that when we are lumped to the ‘FAS Burden’ we can understand what it means for us?”
Kuartei added that lumping Palau, FSM and RMI together negates some of the positive things that they are doing to deal with the issue of migration for health, education or other purposes.
