Candidate for governor presents health care plank
By The Star Staff
The New Progressive Party (NPP) minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, along with District 1 San Juan Rep. Eddie Charbonier Chinea, on Monday voiced support for the tax and savings proposals presented over the weekend by the party’s candidate for governor, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, which include the review of tax rates, as well as establishing a new culture of savings.
In line with González Colón’s initiatives, the legislators announced that in 2025 they will be submitting a package of measures to encourage Puerto Ricans to save, including increasing the maximum contribution to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) from $5,000 to $8,000.
Other initiatives proposed by González Colón include increasing the maximum contribution to $1,000 for educational IRAs and establishing ABLE accounts in Puerto Rico, which offer tax incentives to people with special needs to promote savings without counting toward a resource measurement.
“The new NPP majority in the House is committed to reducing the tax burden of our people and small and midsize businesses,” Méndez said. “That is why we support the proposals for tax reduction and the creation of a culture of savings that our next governor, Jenniffer González, presented to the people this weekend. We will be working on the necessary legislation to make them a reality with the purpose of helping our people. We will approve many of these initiatives that our resident commissioner proposed so that they have an impact for the 2024 tax year that ends on December 31 …”
On Sunday, meanwhile, González Colón presented 11 of her 29 health care proposals on the concluding day of the NPP convention.
The proposals include support for the creation of medical residencies, with the aim of increasing residency and fellowship positions to retain more doctors on the island. Another proposal seeks to improve the salaries of health professionals, with adequate compensation to attract and retain talent.
In addition, González Colón proposes: certifying the Medical Center’s Trauma Hospital as Level I, through the creation of a public corporation with autonomy to manage the certification; recognizing obstetricians as primary physicians for women up to one year after childbirth, guaranteeing comprehensive care; implementing a Hepatitis C detection and treatment program in prisons to care for the affected population; establishing a trust fund for the repayment of student loans, encouraging doctors, dentists and scientists to establish themselves on the island; and creating a health prosecutors unit in the Department of Justice to defend patients’ rights and handle complaints in the health sector.
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