NMIRF board OKs RFP for HHLI consultant
The NMI Retirement Fund Board of Trustees has approved the issuance of a Request for Proposal for the hiring of a consultant to work on the entry of health insurance carriers under a privatized Group Health and Life Insurance program.
“The RFP will be out soon for the consultant to draft the RFP for health insurance carriers to partake in the process,” said Fund board chair Joseph Reyes.
He said the consultant is expected to provide a set of guidelines that health insurance carriers need to comply with to accommodate the needs of CNMI members.
“The board has moved to privatize the program but the process really takes time,” he said.
Right now, he said, the Fund is working on a transition program, which he admitted is not adequate yet.
This is why the board opted to seek the contract extension of Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral up to December this year, he said. HPMR’s contract expires on July 31.
“Government process takes time. We’re very careful in doing things. There are procurement rules to follow, etc,” said Reyes.
The board recently decided to terminate its contract with HPMR, its third party administrator for the Fund’s Group Health Insurance, as part of its goal to privatize the program.
This followed a letter from Gov. Juan N. Babauta in March this year, pushing for the privatization of the health insurance program. The governor said he favors a private, cafeteria-style health insurance program for government employees and retirees.
The governor’s proposal allows subscribers to choose their health insurance providers.
This happens when the government solicits bids from private health insurance providers, in which a group of three or more would be selected.
The administration had hoped to have such conversion ready before the end of the HPMR contract in July.
If that deadline is not met, the governor had suggested that the board take over the management of the government health insurance program “with your in-house resources for the relatively short period until the new system is fully operational.”
Right now, the Fund said that it is tapping an in-house team, but it also needs to temporarily retain the services of HPMR to avoid putting the whole program at risk.
