By Emmanuel T. Erediano
emmanuel@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
THE Commonwealth Retirees’ Association will meet on Dec. 6, 2025, to discuss, among other issues, the possible discontinuation of their health insurance coverage, as announced by the NMI Settlement Fund last week.
They initially scheduled the meeting ahead of the status conference at the District Court for the NMI on Dec. 10, 2025, to decide who among them will speak in court on behalf of the association, CRA Secretary Mario Taitano said.
But with the Settlement Fund’s announcement regarding the possible discontinuation of their health insurance and the 25% pension payments, Taitano said “we will have to discuss that as well because it is important for us to know the Settlement Fund’s plan.”
Speaking as an individual retiree, Taitano said he had expected that the $29 million the CNMI government is borrowing from the Marianas Public Land Trust under Public Law 24-13 would fund their health insurance coverage and the 25% pension payments.
“I thought those were the main purposes of the bill because retirees are the priorities. But it doesn’t look that way now. What’s going on?” he asked.
In an interview, House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. John Paul A. Sablan said his committee and the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee will reconvene today, Tuesday, to agree on a version of the revised budget bill proposed by the governor. He noted that the governor’s proposal includes $7.2 million for retirees’ group health and life insurance.
He said the $29 million MPLT loan and the $4.9 million of unrestricted Public School System funds are expected to free up corresponding amounts in the general fund that can then be allocated for the Settlement Fund’s payment of retirees’ insurance coverage in the FY 2026 revised budget.
“These are all connected,” Sablan said.
As for the 25% pension payments, Sablan said the joint Ways and Means and Fiscal Affairs committees will address that as well.
New funding needed
The NMI Settlement Fund on Friday informed retirees that government-provided health insurance and supplemental benefit payments could lapse after Dec. 31, 2025, unless new funding is secured.
Finance Secretary Tracy Norita told the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee on Nov. 19 that the government’s health insurance contract with Aetna International Inc. will expire at year’s end. Extending coverage for retirees would require $7.2 million in the fiscal 2026 budget.
Gov. David M. Apatang has proposed a revised budget that includes funding for retirees’ premiums, contingent on a loan from the Marianas Public Land Trust. Lawmakers have not yet acted on the proposal. Under the settlement agreement, the CNMI government must provide retirees the same health insurance benefits offered to full-time employees. Without full funding, retirees risk losing coverage beginning Jan. 1.
The Settlement Fund also reported that the government lacks funding beyond Dec. 31 for the 25% supplemental payments it has continued to provide in recent years. While not required under the settlement agreement, the government has voluntarily made those payments.
Settlement Fund officials urged retirees to explore alternative health insurance options and to contact their elected representatives as discussions continue.
The fund was created under a federal court-approved agreement in Betty Johnson v. Eloy S. Inos (Case No. 09-00023). It assumed certain assets of the former NMI Retirement Fund to guarantee that class members receive at least 75% of their full benefits. The agreement requires the CNMI government to make annual payments to sustain those benefits.
With Bryan Manabat
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.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
