Palacios: Admin committed to the Health Network Program

The revised fiscal year 2025 budget proposed by the Office of the Governor remains unchanged and its allocation to the Health Network Program (formerly known as the Medical Referral Program) remains at $800,000. However, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios assures that should resources become available, programs like HNP remains at the top of the administration’s list of priorities.

According to the budget proposal submitted by the Office of the Governor to the Legislature, the proposed budget for the HNP program remains at $800,000, despite the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. previously expressing that it may not suffice.

In an interview with Palacios, he expressed that his administration remains committed to the program adding that should resources become available in FY2025, the program would be a priority.

“We are committed to the HNP. Healthcare needs, especially for those who need to go off-island for medical care, it’s not something we walk away from. We will continue to monitor that and as resources become available, we are going to make sure that we give programs like this priority,” he said.

Previously, CHCC chief executive officer Esther L. Muña submitted a letter to House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) requesting funding for the HNP program.

Public Law 22-33, which returned the HNP program to CHCC, allows the corporation to submit a funding request to the governor and the Legislature if the appropriated funding has been exhausted prior to the end of the fiscal year.

In this case, not only was the appropriated funding insufficient, CHCC had to put up its own funds to keep the program going.

In her letter to Villagomez, Muña said as of March 31, 2024, the year-to-date expenditures for the program amounted to $2.3 million.

Muna, in her letter, notes that of the $797,711 that the FY2024 budget law appropriated to HNP, only $655,470 has been transferred.

According to Muña, based on CHCC’s annualized expenditures, the total projected expenditure for HNP for FY 2024 is expected to be around $4.6 million.

Muña said to ensure the smooth continuation of the program, CHCC has already advanced $1.6 million of its own funds to augment the funding shortfall for HNP.

CHCC asked the Legislature for an additional funding of $3.8 million to sustain the activities of the HNP and to return CHCC’s funds to its own coffers.

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios