MARIANAS Medical Center is urging the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Welfare to address the “grossly underfunded” Group Health Life Insurance program through increasing the government’s share of each member’s contribution.
In a recent letter, MMC’s Dr. Tony Stearns told Committee Chairman Ricardo S. Atalig, R-Rota, that “there is simply no way that monthly revenues will be adequate to meet the monthly obligations incurred by GHLI members.”
He said that while third party administrator, Hawaii Pacific Medical Center, is helping GHLI save money by obtaining lower rates for off-island care, there must still be an increase in revenues to address the accruing obligations under the program.
“There either needs to be an increase in the employee contribution, the government contribution or both, sufficient to cover the obligations,” said Stearns.
He also urged the committee to look at the possibility of increasing the reimbursement rates for on-island medical providers.
Providing medical care in the CNMI, according to Stearns, “is in many ways more expensive” than providing the same care in Hawaii or on the mainland U.S., thus local health care providers are “unable to break even.”
