STAND. COM. REP. 935

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1676

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1676 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to remedy the conflict-of-interest situation created by the Department of Health's (DOH) licensing itself and its own contracted providers.

Specifically, this bill:

(1) Transfers DOH's Office of Health Care Assurance to the State Health Planning and Development Agency (SHPDA); and

(2) Renames SHPDA as the Hawaii Health Performance Agency.

This action was one of the recommendations made by the Auditor in Auditor's Report No. 02-06.

The Hawaii Disability Rights Center supported this bill. The Hawaii Government Employees Association and a concerned individual supported the measure with amendments. DOH, Hawaii Long Term Care Association, and Hawaii Coalition of Care Home Administrators opposed this bill.

Your Committee finds that only 160,000 residents of Hawaii are eligible to receive benefits from the federally matched Medicaid program, which provides full medical coverage, including laboratory testing, prescription-drug costs, and long-term care expenses. Eligibility is currently limited to those with family incomes under 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which is approximately $20,000 per year for a family of four.

Upon careful consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by deleting its contents and inserting the substance of H.B. 1617, H.D. 1, which establishes the State Health Authority, to be designated as the State's Medicaid agency, and which your Committee passed earlier during the session.

As amended, this bill would, among other things, request a federal waiver to raise the eligibility requirement from 100 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or up to approximately $61,500 per year for a family of four. Accordingly, many more Hawaii residents would gain access to quality healthcare coverage.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1676, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1676, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Employment.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair