Previous Story
Retirees’ medicine costs $100K a month
|
Posted on Sep 19 2005
The CNMI government retirees’ medicine purchases cost some $100,000 a month, and this expenditure is without funding, according to the NMI Retirement Fund.
“Medicine alone every month costs $104,000. This does not include the doctor’s fee or the referral costs,” said Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes yesterday.
For overall health expenses, the average billing amounts to $120,000 every two weeks or about $3.1 million a year.
There are some 2,000 government retirees benefiting from the CNMI Retirement.
Reyes said this particular need should get funding from Public Law 8-31, which was enacted specifically for three purposes: to provide funding for COLA or cost of living allowance for retirees, employer’s contribution for their health insurance, and for special annuity for past governors and lt. governors.
Reyes said the law provides for a $2 million for these three items but the appropriation only took place for three years ending in 1996.
“It started in 1994 and the last time we received it was in 1996,” said Reyes.
Since that time, he said that the Fund has been using the current members’ contribution to support the retirees’ needs. “We’re using the active members’ contribution to meet our obligations,” he said.
It is the reason, he said, why the Fund board decided this year to delay the release of retirees’ COLA until it receives appropriate funding from the government.
The Fund has increased the retirees’ COLA to 2.7 percent in 2005 but such allowance has not been released.
“We would only give it when there’s fund from the government for such a purpose,” he said.
He said it would need a minimum of 687,000 to pay off retirees’ COLA this year.
COLA, which is incorporated in a retiree’s pension every 15 days, is supposed to take effect every January of each year. Special annuities, meantime, costs some $100,000 a year.
Reyes said that the Legislature should increase the $2 million appropriation under P.L. 8-31 since it only covered 300 retirees back in 1994.
