$4M funding for GHLI sought

Officials of the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund sought anew the assistance of the Legislature to review other possible funding sources in hopes to settle over $4 million debts to at least 295 on and off-island health service providers.

Most of the Group Health and Life Insurance Program subscribers are being turned away by different service providers or are being asked to pay up front due to mounting medical bills the agency is yet to settle, program manager Dolores Moore disclosed yesterday.

Records showed that the government-health insurance program has outstanding payable of $2,995,486.48 to service providers in the Commonwealth, Guam, Hawaii, and the mainland US to date.

In addition, the health and life insurance program owes more than $1,144 million in the form of reimbursement to the Commonwealth Health Center’s medical referral program, which it paid to providers in Hawaii.

GHLIP will settle the amount with the CHC through staggered payment as group health and life insurance subscribers remit their monthly contribution.

Earlier, CHC’s medical referral office paid on behalf of the GHLI an estimated $1.1 million outstanding debts to two Hawaii-based hospitals. The bills accumulated from various medical services rendered to program subscribers for the past years.

Ms. Moore said GHLIP has a grand total outstanding debts of over $4.139 million but it does not reflect Group Health and Life Insurance Trust Fund’s debt with CHC dating from 1996 to the present as the backlogs of claims are still being sorted prior to processing.

“The resources of GHLITF since inception have not been adequate to pay all the claims,” the manager explained in a letter to House Health and Welfare chair Rep. Malua Peter.

Ms. Moore added that the GHLITF accounting branch could not disburse payments to vendors due to continued funding shortfall of the program.

Based on the January GHLI Itemized Income Statement Report, for 1999 to 2001, the program’s medical and administrative expenses amount to $10.879 million against its total revenues for the same period of $9.429 million.

The report further disclosed that the GHLI has an outstanding debt of $1.144 million to the Medical Referral Office and pending payments amounting to $2.995 million. From 1999 to 2001, GHLI has a total deficit of $1.450 million and a total medical expense of $4.140 million.

At present, Ms. Moore said the program has $5.590 million total excess of revenues over expenses to settle.

Because of the continued funding deficit, the manager asked Ms. Peter’s assistance in appropriating the sum of $4.140 to enable the GHLITF to pay claims that have been incurred at private health service providers on and off-island.

For several months now, NMIRF has been pressing the Legislature to source out additional funds to help them settle mounting medical bills incurred through hundreds of medical referrals to off-island service providers.

The Fund earlier asked for $5 million to settle its debts and an additional $1 million for its review utilization board. But Fund Administrator Juan S. Torres said in the absence of funding allocation the agency will be hiring an in-house utilization review personnel. (EGA)