Tax commissioner to give updates on ObamaCare at briefing

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Senator Dennis Rodriguez Jr.'s Committee on Health will be holding an informational briefing tomorrow for updates on the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also known as ObamaCare.

Tax commissioner Art Illagan will share with lawmakers how the law applies to Guam and the implementation by the Government of Guam. He says the level of concern still remains most notably at how the benefits of the law apply to Guam but the subsidies do not. He has since written a second letter to health and human services.

"So what we're asking is we're in a worse situations, we're not getting subsidies, our poverty levels is probably the highest in the nation, how can we afford to accommodate all this additional benefits when we're not getting the subsidies and mandates to make that happen," he said.

As we reported, Illagan raised concern over how Guam and the territories are treated differently and unfairly compared to the States. The briefing is set for Thursday at 2pm at the Legislature's Public Hearing Room.