Minister Kuartei feels that Palau has always been dragged into the whole discussion, but he said, Palauans work, pay taxes and contribute to the Hawaiian society. The exclusion of health care coverage denies them an important safety net that is available to other people who are lawful residents.
“They dragged us in all these, but they never showed us any statistics as to what burden the Palauans give to Hawaii,” Kuartei said.
Under their respective Compact of Free Association arrangements, FAS citizens – Palau, Repbulic of the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia — are free to enter, reside and work in the US and its territories and are eligible for Medicaid. However, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 disqualified FAS citizens from many public benefits including Medicaid coverage.
Recently, however, Hawaii offers a new health care plan for FAS residents. Although the new plan is still not comprehensive, it now provides emergency services such as dialysis.
During the 13th Micronesian Chief Executives’ Summit in May, a resolution to request and urge the United States Congress to restore Medicaid eligibility for citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS) residing in the US territories was submitted.
As a member of the Compact Review Commission, Kuartei went to Hawaii and saw that the number of Palauans accessing the services in Hawaii is very small compared to the Palauans who are working, paying taxes and contributing to the Palauan society.
“As the Minister of Health, when I hear them lumping Palauans with the rest of FSM or RMI, that’s making a blanket statement. That’s not correct. We understand that we need to advocate people from FSM and RMI, we’re friends,” said Kuartei. But he said the problems with Palauans or with FSM or with RMI should be defined.
“The number of Paluans living in Hawaii who use Hawaiian services is very small,” said Kuartei. “We don’t go there for dialysis and chemotherapy. We go to the Philippines. So I am really disturbed that they continue to say blanket statements.”
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