3 health providers needed for privatized GHLI

At least three health providers would be selected by the NMI Retirement Fund under a privatized group health insurance program.

“That’s the number we’re looking at to give the members a choice,” said Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes.

He said the in-house privatization committee has been working very closely with Hawaii-based consultant Karen Bauder to ensure the immediate privatization of the program.

Bauder, whose contract was shouldered by the Governor’s Office, has made a third draft of the program’ Request for Proposal.

“We’re now on the third draft. It requires a lot of time to review everything. It’s hard work both for the consultant and the Fund since we have to review and make sure we go item by item,” said Reyes.

The government, he said, has great confidence in Bauder, a leading health insurance consultant in the region. He said that Bauder did Guam’s health insurance program. She was also the one who helped the NMIRF years back in coming up with the present group health program.

“So she knows what she’s dealing with here,” said Reyes.

Bauder, who came on board summer this year, is in charge of negotiations with insurance carriers in providing health coverage for all government employees who are members of Group Health.

The Fund board voted last March not to renew the contract of Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral, its third-party administrator for the Group Health insurance program, on the heels of Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s push for the program’s privatization.

The three-year contract between the Fund and HPMR expired on July 31, but since the Fund remains unprepared for the privatization, HPMR continues its services. HPMR’s contract was extended up to February 2005 but the Fund has asked HPMR to further extend its services up to June next year.

Meantime, Babauta, in a letter addressed to Fund board chair Joseph Reyes, said that he had already signed the Request for Proposal for a health insurance consultant that would assist the Fund with the conversion to a private, cafeteria-style health insurance program for government employees and retirees.

The governor had hoped that the conversion would take place at the same time as the HPMR contract expired.

In case of non-completion, he had suggested that the board manage the government health insurance program using its in-house resources “for the relatively short period until the new system is fully operational.”

A cafeteria-style health insurance program is a pick-and-choose concept that would give each government employee the option to choose a provider.

This means that the Fund will solicit bids from private health insurance providers, then choose from among the interested bidders a select group of three or more, from which each government employee will choose from.