Proposal to ease rules for claiming disability retirement benefits nixed

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has vetoed a bill that sought to ease the application process for claiming disability retirement benefits.

Fitial said the lenient process proposed by the legislation would expose the NMI Retirement Fund to abuses.

“While I commend the Legislature for continuously seeking channels to protect and serve the rights of disabled retirees of the CNMI government, the legislation as presented for my consideration thwarts the original intent and language of the bill as introduced,” he said in his veto message to the Legislature.

Currently, a person who wants to claim disability retirement benefits must be evaluated by two physicians and a vocational rehabilitation counselor, and get certification that he or she is totally and permanently disabled due to physical or mental incapacitation.

The bill, as originally introduced in the House of Representatives, proposed to amend this by requiring only one physician. That physician, however, has to be a specialist in the area of the disability being evaluated.

But the bill, as the Legislature eventually passed it, removed the amendment to require one specialist, as well as the requirement to be certified by a vocational rehabilitation counselor.

“It removed an important safeguard in certifying a claimant as totally and permanently disabled,” the governor said. “A vocational rehabilitation counselor’s certification is important, because considering the nature of his or her profession, to rehabilitate persons, if he or she certifies a person as totally and permanently disabled, it is credible evidence of a true disability.”

Proponents of the bill have said the current requirements are too difficult to meet, and that the two-physician requirement is enough to protect against abuses and fraud.

They have argued that counselors at the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation lack medical and psychiatric expertise or credentials to issue disability certifications. And this situation has created a hardship for OVR, for the retirees, and for the Retirement Fund.

“This legal requirement of OVR counselors places the office in the untenable situation of either requiring counselors to make judgments that are beyond the scope of their training, or not complying with the law. Both courses of action could be detrimental to retirees and or to the Retirement Fund,” states the bill.