Department of Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig disclosed Friday that their final numbers show that they owe Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. $9.8 million and not $34.2 million as CHCC has claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In response to Saipan Tribune\u2019s questions during a KKMP press briefing, Atalig said some lawmakers are politicizing health care matters and no one talks about the good things that the administration has been doing to help CHCC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s paying CHCC\u2019s [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] billings? It\u2019s the central government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Last Aug. 2, CHCC chief executive officer Esther L. Mu\u00f1a wrote to Atalig, claiming that CHCC is owed $34.2 million to date, and that Finance has yet to transfer to the corporation several local appropriations, as well as allocations from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said that soon after CHCC\u2019s fiscal year 2022 budget hearing, some lawmakers emphasized with her that CHCC needs to make a written request to Atalig\u2019s office requesting for and following up on funding appropriated to CHCC by CNMI public laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That prompted Mu\u00f1a to write a letter to Atalig, in which she itemized the appropriations that have a balance to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Atalig said Friday that he submitted a letter to Mu\u00f1a, sharing with her that their review of CHCC\u2019s spreadsheet and Finance numbers are very different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said their numbers are showing that they owe $9.8 million and that they are still working on to make sure that CHCC\t will get that amount.<\/p>\n
The Finance secretary said the $9.8 million includes a lot of payments for medical referral.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep in mind when we allocated medical referral monies\u00a0 from ARPA\u00a0 it was also not just directly to give 100% to CHCC. It was also\u00a0 paid for past billings of medical referral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Atalig said the central government still needs to pay for those medical bills or medical expenses from the medical referral program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said there are misunderstandings, but some lawmakers have politicized the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t need to politicize this. I work closely with CHCC to make sure that we work together in all aspects,\u201d Atalig said.<\/p>\n
The secretary said no one\u2019s talking about the assistance that the CNMI government and the Office of the Governor are giving CHCC.<\/p>\n
He said some lawmakers are all concerned about this spreadsheet and those figures, but they\u2019re not aware that the administration spent close to $30 million in helping CHCC throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Atalig noted that they put a\u00a0 new parking lot for CHCC, took care of a lot of their personal protective equipment (PPEs), nurses, and traveling nurses, and that all those payments are COVID-19 expenses.<\/p>\n
He said on top of it, his office is completely upgrading CHCC\u2019s\u00a0 financial system with Munis, and that Finance is not charging a penny to CHCC.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one wants to discuss how much we paid CHCC for their CUC bills,\u201d the secretary also stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Atalig said he had been at meetings trying to get CHCC and CUC boards together and resolve CHCC\u2019s outstanding utility bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c But all we\u2019re concerned about is this political season using the healthcare system. And what we\u2019ve promised\u00a0 to allocate, those cannot change.\u00a0 We\u2019re working on that. We\u2019re still going to continue to work on it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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