Report Title:

Long term care

 

Description:

Appropriates funds to the office of the legislative auditor to conduct an actuarial study regarding Hawaii's long-term care needs.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

167

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

Relating to long-term care.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the demographic makeup of our State is shifting dramatically. As those who were born during periods of great population growth in America have aged, the number of older Hawaii residents has increased dramatically. Furthermore, advances in health care technology and general health knowledge continue to extend the life expectancy of people in Hawaii. Due to these factors, the population of older adults has doubled over the last twenty years, and, correspondingly, the median age of our population has increased significantly.

As our population ages, more and more adults in Hawaii will require long-term care, placing an increasingly immense financial burden on families as well as the State in general. Nursing home care and other expenses associated with long-term care cost far more than many families can handle. Consequently, hundreds of millions of dollars of public money go toward funding long-term care through medicaid, and there is no end in sight to these spiraling costs. Furthermore, technology that has been developed to serve the older segment of our population has increased life spans and the comfort and well-being of older adults, but the cost of these benefits further exacerbates the fiscal dilemma of long-term care.

The legislature must examine new ways of solving this problem. Medicaid cannot be expected to handle the burden of so many people's long-term care needs without profound changes in the way people pay for long term care. The legislature must actively seek out new ideas, but also accurately and comprehensively assess the long-term care needs of Hawaii's residents. Therefore, the legislature must gather actuarial data and analyze the best way to proceed to mitigate the economic problems posed by long-term care.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the office of the legislative auditor to conduct an actuarial study to provide a comprehensive assessment of Hawaii's long-term care needs.

SECTION 2. The legislative auditor shall conduct an actuarial study to provide a comprehensive assessment of Hawaii's long-term care needs and shall submit a report on the findings and recommendations of the actuarial study, including any relevant proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2002.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002 for an actuarial study to comprehensively assess the long-term care needs of Hawaii's residents.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the office of the legislative auditor for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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