(a) I Maga’haga (the Governor) is authorized to enter contracts and reject proposals, with the written concurrence of the Speaker of I Liheslaturan Guahan (the Guam Legislature) or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam whose consents may be withheld in their sole discretion, with insurance companies, authorized to do business in Guam, for group insurance, including, but not limited to, hospitalization, medical care, life, and accident, for all employees or separate groups of employees, and foster children, of the government of Guam. If the Legislative or Judicial Branches of government elect to enter into separate contracts for their employees as authorized in § 4301(c), I Maga’haga shall obtain the written concurrence of the Branch electing to remain with the Executive Branch on or before March 1 of each year. Notwithstanding any authority granted in each entity’s enabling legislation to procure separate health insurance coverage, all entities in the Executive Branch, including autonomous and semi- autonomous agencies, public corporations and authorities, shall participate in the Government of Guam Group Health Insurance
Program. The government shall not be construed as an agent of any insurance company in negotiating or administering this group insurance program. Health benefits provided under this authority may be self-funded and administered by a third party if it is determined to be cost-effective. DOA shall hire an independent auditing firm to verify the participating contract refunds/no refunds reported by the carriers. Such verification shall include validating claims reported by insurance carriers.

(b) All participation by employees in such contracts of insurance shall be on a voluntary basis. All retired employees and survivors of a retired employee who are enrolled in Medicare (Parts A and B), and who participate by electing either Class I or Class II coverage, shall enroll in the Retiree Supplemental Plan. Effective in the next contract following the enactment of this subparagraph, the government’s contribution for health and dental insurance shall be uniform within each class (including sepa rate classes and rates for retired employees and their survivors) for all competing plans, and shall not be less than fifty percent (50%) of the lowest premium for a single employee, except that the government shall increase the contributions it makes on behalf of a retired employee or survivor of a retired employee so that the retired employee or the survivor of a retired employee contributes no more than an active employee who is otherwise in the same class. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section to the contrary, the government of Guam shall cover the full cost of insurance coverage for foster children, and such coverage shall require no co-payments nor deductibles for the foster children insured pursuant to this Section.

(c) Contracts of insurance procured under the foregoing may provide for participation by employees of the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch through the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam, at the sole election and discretion of those respective Branches, or such Branches may enter separate contracts for their employees, subject to the limitations set forth in this Section. The Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch through the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam, shall have the right to bring suit in the Superior Court of Guam in order to protect its and its employees’ interests as provided under this Article for both equitable and legal relief. The government ClaimsAct shall not apply to such suits. The right to bring suit shall be retroactively effective for actions arising from Fiscal Year 1997 forward. The government shall not prohibit the sale of insurance products on its premises during working hours, including during the Open Enrollment periods.

(d) As used in this Section, employees includes officers and retired employees and survivors of retired employees who are receiving annuity benefits.

(e) [Repealed.]

(f) Any insurance company or health maintenance organization offering group health coverage under this section may at its sole option, offer two (2) plans with different premiums and/or benefits, only one of which plans may offer a rebate, with all members of both plans being in the same risk pool. The plan offering the rebate or refund shall base the same on the claims made by the plan members under the plan.

(g) (1) The negotiating team, as defined in § 4302(c), shall develop an incentive program for all subscribers and dependents of the government of Guam Group Health Plan that:

and

(A) promotes wellness;

(B) promotes primary care and preventive care;

(C) manages and coordinates care for persons
with chronic health conditions or acute illness. (2) The incentive program shall:
(A) meet the requirements set forth in the federal
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 (HIPAA) for bona fide wellness programs;

(B) provide financial incentives to covered employees or individuals for participating in the program; and

(C) provide to covered employees or individuals for whom it is unreasonably difficult to satisfy the
program’s applicable standards reasonable alternative methods for achieving program participation.

(3) Carriers that propose to charge additional premiums for the Preventive Healthcare, Wellness and Fitness programs shall specify how the premium charged to the government of Guam will vary based on the anticipated efficacy of the program in reducing expected utilization or medical claim costs. The methodology must take into consideration:

(A) the anticipated average percentage of employees or individuals eligible to participate in the program;

(B) the anticipated efficacy of the financial incentives in producing high levels of program participation;

(C) the expected success rate for program participants;

(D) the level of program participation achieved in prior coverage periods; and

(E) the realized savings achieved in prior coverage periods.

SOURCE: GC § 4019. Renumbered as 4 Guam Code Ann. § 4150 by P.L. 16-023:14 (Aug. 19, 1981). Codified as 4 Guam Code Ann. § 4301 by the Compiler. Subsection (b) amended P.L. 17-070:19 (Sept. 21, 1984), and repealed and reenacted by P.L. 20-211:1 (Aug. 22, 1990). Subsection (e) added by P.L. 21-033:4 (May 17, 1991). Subsection (f) added by P.L. 22-014:2 (May 7, 1993). Subsections (a) and (c) amended by P.L. 24-143:19 and :20 (March 5,
1998), respectively. Subsection (g) added by P.L. 24-143:21, repealed by P.L. 30-093:2 (Feb. 9, 2010) effective on Jan. 1, 2011. Subsection (a) amended by P.L. 30-170:2 (July 16, 2010). Subsection (g) added by P.L.
30-170:3 (July 16, 2010) (temporarily codified as as subsection (h) from
July 16, 2010 to January 1, 2011). Subsections (a) and (b) amended by P.L.
32-189:3 and:4 (Oct. 13, 2014), respectively. Subsections (a) and (c) amended by P.L. 34-083:1 and :2 (Feb. 19, 2018), respectively. Subsections (a) and (b) amended by P.L. 34-095:1 and 2 (May 14, 2018). Subsection (e) repealed by P.L. 34-109:3 (June 5, 2018). Subsection (a) amended by P.L.35-092:1 (June 26, 2020).

2020 NOTE: The amendments pursuant to P.L. 35-092 (June 26, 2020)
shall not apply to solicitations, negotiations, or contracts for government
of Guam group health insurance for Fiscal Year 2021.

2018 NOTE: The coverage of mammograms in subsection (e) was repealed by P.L. 34-109:3, but was addressed in P.L. 34-109:2 which added a new 22 Guam Code Ann. § 181003 entitled “”Breast Cancer Screening Benefit in Every Health Insurance Policy.””

Past publications of the GCA included an annotation discussing the effective date of the amendments pursuant to P.L. 30-170 (July 16, 2010). This annotation is no longer relevant, and will be be omitted from future publications of the GCA.

2015 NOTE: Pursuant to an amendment to § 22A(b)(2) of the Organic Act of Guam by Pub. L. 108-378:1(b) (Oct. 30, 2004), references to “”Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Guam”” have been changed to “”Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam.”” See 48 U.S.C. § 1424-
1(b)(2).

2012 NOTE: Pursuant to 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606, subsection desginations were altered from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals to adhere to the Compiler’s alpha-numeric scheme.