“NO matter where we put the medical referral office, it will always be a political issue,” Special Assistant for Administration Mathilde “Keko” Rosario said during a meeting with the House Committee on Health and Welfare on Wednesday.
Rosario represented the Office of the Governor, one of the government agencies invited to the meeting to discuss issues involving medical referrals.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Chief Executive Officer Esther Muna and Medicaid Administrator Helen Sablan also attended the meeting.
Chaired by Rep. Tina Sablan, the committee wanted to hear from Rosario and Muna about ongoing discussions on where the medical referral office should be.
Right now, the medical referral office, which is headed by Ron Sablan, is under the Office of the Governor.
Rosario said the transfer of the medical referral office from Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. to the governor’s office during the administration of then-Gov. Eloy S. Inos “was supposedly on a temporary basis” to help the program go through its financial woes at the time. She said the late governor’s goal was to ensure that the financial part of the program was managed properly.
She said the current administration wants the medical referral office returned to the healthcare corporation but CHCC’s CEO “refused to take back the program.”
Rosario said the program belongs to CHCC “because that’s where the doctors are.”
Muna, for her part, said the talks were all about the program’s expenditures, which usually exceed the funding appropriated by the Legislature.
The program director has said that medical referral has never been adequately funded by the government.
Rosario reiterated: “No matter where you put the medical referral program, it will always be a political issue because the patients will always reach out to their elected leaders.”
When asked by Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao what she thought about making the program an independent government entity, Rosario said, “Even if it becomes an ‘independent’ agency, I still believe it will always be a political issue.”
From left, front row, CNMI Medicaid Administrator Helen Sablan, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna and Special Assistant for Administration Mathilde “Keko” Rosario appear before the House Committee on Health & Welfare in the House chamber on Wednesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
