GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios and the CNMI government should prioritize funding the Health Network Program’s subsistence benefits, according to a beneficiary who declined to be identified.
Recently, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. informed HNP’s beneficiaries that beginning Sept. 1, 2024, subsistence benefits will be suspended until adequate funding is appropriated and made available to CHCC.
HNP is formerly known as the Medical Referral Services Office.
A beneficiary, who has been referred to a U.S. hospital, received a letter dated Aug. 15 informing them of the subsistence allowance suspension.
In an email to Variety on Sunday, the beneficiary stated: “We are seeking help, as this situation is very difficult for us. The Governor and the Government should prioritize this issue if they really are concerned for our people.”
“Sending us far away from home and with limited financial resources is hard. We don’t know how long the subsistence allowance issue will be resolved, but it will surely affect each patient and escorts that are depending on that weekly allowance,” the beneficiary added.
The medical referrals office used to be under the governor’s office, which reprogrammed funds for the program whenever there was a funding shortfall.
However, in Jan. 2023, the governor signed Public Law 22-33 which created HNP within CHCC, and mandates that the hospital operate the program within budgetary appropriations.
Since then, CHCC said HNP “continues to be significantly underfunded,” with the last appropriation made in May 2024 through Saipan Local Law 23-15. Furthermore, a recent notice from the Office of Management and Budget informed CHCC that HNP funding will be reduced by 2.15% for the remaining months of the current fiscal year.
On Sunday, the governor told reporters that “the central government had already transmitted funds to CHCC for HNP.”
In a separate but related issue, CHCC last month said it had yet to receive $8.6 million in Medicaid funding from the central government. The amount is for the healthcare services that CHCC provided to Medicaid patients from June 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2023.
