Demapan to re-introduce vetoed bill as new legislation

A bill to get all active government employees under government insurance and thereby lower premiums across the board will be re-introduced as a new legislation, sans a provision that caused it to be vetoed by acting governor Ralph DLG Torres on Monday.

That provision was a Senate amendment to allow retirees to re-enroll in the Group Health and Life Insurance Program. But the Attorney General’s Office and the Finance Department have said a funding source to shoulder this burden has not been identified and would actually lead to greater insurance premiums, as retirees are expected to make more insurance claims.

Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan), the author of House bill 19-37, said yesterday he is preparing to re-introduce the bill so they can achieve the original intent of increasing enrollment of active employees to help bring down cost of premiums.

“I had a chance to discuss the acting governor’s concerns regarding the Senate amendment to increase the number of re-enrollees as it would run contrary to my original intent of increasing the number of active employee enrollees so that we can hopefully reduce the cost of insurance premiums,” said Demapan. “…I anticipate that when the re-introduced legislation reaches the Senate, they too would take into account the concerns raised by acting governor Torres in his veto message.”

He said he is confident that both chambers of the Legislature share the same vision and goal of making health insurance and accessibility to health care affordable and reliable. 

“This, however, does not mean that we should stop working to provide assistance to our retirees as well. I am in communication with industry stakeholders as to how best we can also assist retirees with regard to access to affordable health insurance. I’m hoping that in due time, through these interactions, we will be able to formulate a viable plan that will provide best practices to assist retirees currently residing in the CNMI and those who have relocated abroad.

“I will continue to work with stakeholders to explore options with regards to supplementing coverage for retirees who are eligible for full Medicare. I will also look into CNMI retiree populations residing in the States participating in insurance exchange programs as provided by the Affordable Care Act and how we can help those retirees tap into that resource to help alleviate the cost of health insurance premiums,” said Demapan.