GOVERNOR Juan N. Babauta has approved the proposal to increase the government’s payment contribution to the health insurance coverage of an estimated 10,000 government employees and their dependents.
This means that the annual health insurance coverage of a government worker would be raised from $25,000 to $50,000 for the low option plan, and a maximum of $100,000 for the high option plan.
Retirement Fund Administrator Karl T. Reyes and legal counsel Kathleen Troy-Rucker said the governor signed the amendments to the Rules and Regulations Governing the Group Health Insurance Program last week.
Under the new regulations, health plans would be offered to suit the needs of individual policy-holders.
Reyes said that in the past, a government employee with a single dependent paid the same amount of contribution as an enrollee with multiple beneficiaries, although the latter benefited more from the program.
“The difference now is that a couple with only one kid would pay less than families with… five children. In the past, everybody paid the same amount. Yet people with big families availed of hospital services more than the couple with one kid. So those have been spelled out in the new policy,” Reyes told Variety.
“Now,” he added, “the premium is more evenly spread out among the members and a lot of them are happy with that. In the past, people would say ‘I don’t even go to the hospital and I’m paying for everybody. The big families go to the hospital all the time so I’m helping them instead of them putting out their share.’”
Troy-Rucker said the government’s move to increase its contribution to the health insurance coverage of its workers would “make a difference,” particularly to those who are currently afflicted with high-maintenance diseases.
“This is a very good news for government employees,” she said, adding that the Fund will send people to Tinian and Rota to disseminate information about the changes.
A good number of government employees have diabetes—a major non-communicable disease in the CNMI.
Patients suffering from diabetes have to maintain a different diet and are also prone to other diseases such as heart ailment.
The government group health insurance is not mandatory. Interested government employees can enroll and choose a plan based on their incomes and needs.
