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HPMR’s contract extended to August
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Posted on Jul 18 2005
The contract of the NMI Retirement Fund’s third party administrator, Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral, has been extended up to the end of August amid the government’s continued lack of preparedness to implement the privatization of the government’s health insurance program.
“It’s [an] automatic extension since there’s no [privatization] contract yet,” said Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes in an interview yesterday.
HPMR’s latest extended contract had expired on June 30.
Reyes said Hawaii-based group health privatization consultant Karen Bauder is expected to present her findings on the matter in a teleconference today.
Bauder has been working on the proposal of Select Care, one of only two companies that responded to the Fund’s Request for Proposal to privatize the health plan.
Reyes said it takes a considerable time to come up with a final agreement due to major concerns, especially on costs and types of services.
“We are concerned about the entire thing—the cost, the type of coverage. Right now, the retirement program covers almost everything. Even in the U.S., the coverage is very restrictive,” said Reyes.
The Fund had wanted to privatize the health insurance program since July 2004 when the three-year contract of HPMR ended, but it was proven to be unrealistic.
The Fund ended up extending HPMR’s contract a number of times due to the lack of readiness for the privatization.
The Fund initially extended HPMR’s contract up to December 2004 but this was later moved to February 2005. The February contract was further moved to June and eventually to August this year.
The government hopes to implement a cafeteria-style program for the health insurance to give members a chance to choose their preferred packages. This approach is part of the plan to fully privatize the government’s Group Health and Life Insurance Program.
The Fund’s life insurance program is now being handled by Individual Assurance Co., providing life insurance coverage for government employees.
