Pacific / Northern Marianas

US health cuts could be critical for CNMI's sole hospital

13:09 pm on 11 January 2016

A top health official in the Northern Marianas says a proposed law that would take away millions of dollars of Medicaid funding would be devastating for the territory.

The Saipan Tribune reports the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has voted to take away 26 million US dollars in Medicaid funding for the CNMI among cuts to the Affordable Care Act.

CNMI Legislature Photo: Supplied

But the chief executive of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, Esther Muna, says new money is essential to keeping the territory's hospital open, after it lost local funding.

She says most of the lawmakers who passed the bill have no idea how limited access to quality health care is in the territories.

The bill will now go to the US President, who has the power to veto it.