Mandatory health insurance opposed • Private sector says proposal would further hurt employers

A proposed law requiring employers to provide health benefits to both their foreign and resident workers may prove to be a bane rather than boon to local businesses, according to papers submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Welfare.

Representatives from the private sector instead called on lawmakers to further study repercussions of such a measure, noting that it would only drive business owners to bankruptcy in view of the present economic conditions on the island.

Called the Commonwealth Mandatory Health Care Act of 1999, the bill was offered by Sen. Juan P. Tenorio in an attempt to widen coverage of medical insurance not only to nonresident workers but also to locals employed in the private sector.

His proposal, which he has said aims to correct loopholes in existing laws, comes amid debate on the Resident Workers Fair Compensation Act which implementation has hit snag following disagreement on the regulations.

But participants to a hearing conducted by HEW last Friday urged the committee to review the legislation in line with the capability of existing health insurance providers to comply with its provisions as well as the ability of employers to cough out additional benefits.

The president of Marianas Insurance Company, Ltd., Lorenzo LG. Cabrera, said it is “highly doubtful” whether the CNMI could find an insurance company or a health maintenance organization that would be willing to provide all health care and medical benefits the bill has proposed.

It would also have significant economic impact on businesses, particularly those labor intensive such as construction, hotel and garment industries, which under the law are required to provide medical benefits to their guest workers.

Mandating the health insurance to all employees would result to higher operational costs for businesses, Cabrera said. “A hefty figure if one has the option of deciding where to establish a business… certainly not in the CNMI,” he added in his written testimony submitted to the Senate panel.

Stacey M. Budasi, government and public affairs manager of PacifiCare, cited the need to further clarify several provisions of the bill to ensure “fair and reasonable” legislation.

“PacifiCare would like to be a participants in additional roundtable discussions with government, business and community representatives who are concerned about the bill in its current form and the effect it will have on the Commonwealth,” she said in a letter to HEW chair Sen. Ricardo Atalig.

The committee is expected to come up with recommendations on Tenorio’s bill after gathering input from public hearings held on Rota, Tinian and Saipan in the past three weeks.