The NMI Retirement Fund Group Health Insurance program proposes to raise its contribution rate by up to 52 percent for the government share and up to 36 percent for members effective July 1, 2006.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the program aims to reduce the four-tier enrollment categories to three\u2014single, couple, and family\u2014and to delete \u201chigh option\u201d and \u201clow option\u201d subcategories.<\/p>\n
The programs, however, proposes to retain the high option\u2019s 80\/20 contribution ratio\u201480 percent for the government and 20 percent for the member.<\/p>\n
The low option is a 70\/30 sharing. <\/p>\n
SINGLE MEMBERS<\/p>\n
Based on the proposed rates, a single enrollee\u2019s semi-monthly or bi-weekly premium rate would increase by 1 percent for retirees and 36 percent for active members.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s rate would be up 16 percent for retirees and active members.<\/p>\n
The proposal said that the government\u2019s contribution would increase from $12.67 to $14.68 for retirees and from $11.70 to $13.55 for active members.<\/p>\n
A single retiree\u2019s contribution would rise from $40.85 to $41.32 while a single active member\u2019s pay would be from $37.71 to $51.45.<\/p>\n
COUPLE MEMBERS<\/p>\n
Couple members\u2019 rate would be up 13 percent for retirees and 33 percent for active members, while the government\u2019s rate would be up 16 percent.<\/p>\n
Data showed that a couple\u2019s payment would increase from $73.93 to $83.45 for retirees and from $68.24 to $90.49 for active.<\/p>\n
The government would pay $26.55 from the current $22.93 for retirees and $24.51 from the current $21.17 for active members.<\/p>\n
Couple refers to a subscriber with one dependent\u2014a spouse or eligible child.<\/p>\n
FAMILY <\/p>\n
Family enrollees\u2019 premium would increase to $139.52 from $107 for retirees and $133.40 from $98.76 for active.<\/p>\n
The government would pay $50.48 from $32.21 for retirees and $46.60 from $30.66 for active enrollees.<\/p>\n
Family refers to a subscriber with two or more dependents.<\/p>\n
These proposed changes in rates are part of the proposed amendments to the rules and regulations governing the group health insurance program that was submitted by the NMI Retirement Fund on April 12 for public notice.<\/p>\n
The proposal has not been published yet. Once published, the public has 30 days to comment on the proposal.<\/p>\n
In an interview yesterday, Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes said that the rates increase is due to the overall rise in health costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost is going up. We have not raised the rates for so long. Further, we are not collecting enough. So we don\u2019t have enough money to pay the charges. The rates we are charging right now are not enough to pay the charges being billed us,\u201d said Reyes.<\/p>\n
The existing rates have been in place since 2003.<\/p>\n
The Retirement Fund recently chose Aetna as its new third party administrator for the group health insurance program, replacing Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral, whose contract ends on June 30.<\/p>\n
Aetna would have a three-year contract with the Fund to administer the group health insurance program beginning July 1.<\/p>\n
The Fund has also chosen Pharmacare to provide prescription drugs benefit management services in July. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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