By Emmanuel T. Erediano
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
THE Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. strongly supports the Senate version of House Bill 24-57 establishing a cap on government liability.
Authored by Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, H.B. 24-57, originally introduced in August and passed by the House in November, proposes to limit the government’s liability to $50,000 for wrongful death, $100,000 per person for other tortious occurrences, or $200,000 per occurrence.
In her letter to Senate President Karl King-Nabors last week, CHCC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Esther L. Muna said that the caps proposed in the Senate version of H.B. 24-57 — $100,000 for wrongful death, $100,000 per person, and $200,000 per occurrence for other tortious occurrences — “are reasonable, necessary, and consistent with comparable jurisdictions of limited means.”
She urged the Senate to pass its version of the bill without delay.
Muna told the Senate president that following the court’s rejection of the prior statutory framework, the entire CNMI government, including CHCC, has been operating under unlimited liability exposure, which she described as an existential threat to the Commonwealth’s healthcare system.
“No healthcare system, regardless of size or resources, can operate sustainably under unlimited liability. A single uncapped judgment could force the immediate reduction or closure of critical programs and would affect every government service competing for the same limited funds,” the CEO said.
She explained that the absence of protections also directly undermines CHCC’s ability to recruit and retain physicians and allied health professionals, many of whom have already expressed concerns about practicing in a jurisdiction without reasonable caps. Critical specialties such as obstetrics, emergency medicine, surgery, oncology, and nephrology are among the hardest to staff and most at risk of becoming unavailable, she said. Compounding this, she added, is the designation of the region as a health professional shortage area, while unlimited liability exposure drives defensive medicine — a combination that diverts scarce resources away from quality patient care.
Attorney General Edward Manibusan also supports H.B. 24-57. Following its introduction last year, he urged the House Committee on Judiciary & Government Operations to expedite its approval.
Manibusan said H.B. 24-57 is urgently necessary because the CNMI Supreme Court held on Dec. 30, 2024, that the previous Government Liability Act cap and general non-economic damages cap violated the CNMI Constitution’s equal protection clause.
The attorney general said that without caps in place, there is no limit to the amount of damages the CNMI government may be required to pay.
“While the Attorney General strongly disagrees with the opinion in that case and will continue to argue for a more reasonable standard of review in future challenges to the equal protection clause, it is imperative that the Legislature promptly reassess the need for such caps to avoid catastrophically high claims in the meantime,” Manibusan said in his written comment.
Emmanuel “Arnold” Erediano has a bachelor of science degree in Journalism. He started his career as police beat reporter. Loves to cook. Eats death threats for breakfast.
