Life Insurance

Officials assured yesterday the government retirees of secure income, saying that they would ensure that the NMI Retirement Fund program remains stable.

The governor said that the government is paying some $17 million a year into the Fund. Before this board, the figure only involved $10 million a year, he said.

"When it started, it already had $300 million unfunded liability. At that time, they [government] started giving credits to people who didn't really contribute a penny to the Fund. It's part of the agreement with the federal government," said Reyes.

Authorities said that government payments to the Fund were current until June 1998 and that payments ceased altogether from August 1998 to October 2001. From October 2001 to September 2005, government payments to the Fund totaled $56.3 million.

It said that as part of its investment strategy, it currently allocates some 4.4 percent or nearly $20 million in the local market, including housing loans to its members.

The Retirement Fund also administers the Workers' Compensation Commission and the Government Group Health and Life Insurance trust Fund. These programs were created to provide protection for employees in the CNMI from potentially devastating financial impact of injury or illness.

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