THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

107

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

Requesting a study on the denial of coverage under the prepaid health care act.

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii once led the nation in providing health care coverage for its citizens, evinced through the passage of groundbreaking legislation which resulted in the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act; and

WHEREAS, approximately ten percent of the population within the State is currently uninsured; and

WHEREAS, estimates indicate that approximately half of these uninsured individuals are employed; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act, under chapter 393, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires employers to provide health care coverage for regular employees who earn at least 86.67 times the State's minimum hourly wage; and

WHEREAS, section 393-3(8), Hawaii Revised Statutes, defines "regular employee" as an employee who works for any one employer for at least twenty hours per week but does not include seasonal workers; and

WHEREAS, under section 12-12-1, Hawaii Administrative Rules, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations defines "eligible employee" as an employee who has worked for an employer for twenty or more hours a week for four consecutive weeks, and has earned 86.67 times the State's minimum hourly wage; and

WHEREAS, employees who work less than twenty hours a week are considered part-time employees for whom employers are not required to provide health care coverage; and

WHEREAS, however, it appears that certain employees who work more than twenty hours during one week, but fewer than twenty hours during the following week, would not satisfy the requirements of the definitions of "eligible employee" and "regular employee" and, thus, would be deprived of health care coverage; and

WHEREAS, for example, if an employee works thirty hours in the first and third weeks of a consecutive four-week period, but only ten hours during the second and fourth weeks of that same period, that employee would not qualify for health care coverage because the employee failed to work at least twenty hours during two of the four weeks, although the employee's total hours over that four-week period equaled eighty hours; and

WHEREAS, a manipulation of the system may be occurring wherein an employer is able to avoid providing health care coverage to an employee by instituting a work schedule in which the employee works less than twenty hours a week during one or more weeks within a consecutive four-week period, but ultimately in excess of eighty hours over the entire period; and

WHEREAS, the State is dedicated to ensuring that quality, affordable health care coverage is available to its citizens; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature is in need of accurate information regarding the extent of the number of these types of employed individuals who are denied health care coverage under the Prepaid Health Care Act; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to conduct a study on the effects of the current definitions of "eligible employee" and "regular employee" under the Prepaid Health Care Act to determine the extent of those denied coverage and the necessity for expansion of such definitions in order to provide health care coverage to more individuals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, specifically, the study should:

(1) Ascertain the number of employed individuals who may work more than a total of eighty hours over a four-week period, but less than twenty hours a week during any week within that four-week period;

(2) Examine whether there is a trend or practice by employers of scheduling their employees so as to avoid providing health care coverage;

(3) Explore the effects of amending the definitions of "eligible employee" and "regular employee" under the Prepaid Health Care Act to encompass employees who work eighty or more hours during a consecutive four-week period, but less than twenty hours during any week within that period;

(4) Ascertain the number of employers who provide health care coverage to employees who are not qualified for coverage under the Prepaid Health Care Act; and

(5) Make recommendations as to whether coverage should be expanded and in what manner, including any proposed legislation;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Department of Human Resources Development, the Department of Health, the Department of Taxation, the Department of Accounting and General Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Judiciary, the University of Hawaii, Social Science Research Institute, the Hawaii Uninsured Project, Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs and each county are requested to assist and cooperate with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in obtaining any necessary information for the preparation of this study, subject to confidentiality requirements, including but not limited to:

(1) Information regarding the extent of the data and the type of the data available regarding part-time workers within each entity, including:

(a) Statistics on the number of part-time workers;

(b) Statistics on the average number of hours worked by part-time workers;

(c) Statistics on the number of employers who are providing health care coverage to employees who are excluded from the Prepaid Health Care Act; and

(2) Any and all information in their possession regarding similar statistics for the private sector, also including:

(a) Statistics on the number of part-time workers by sector or industry;

(b) Information regarding significant trends in the numbers of part-time workers within each sector of industry;

(c) Statistics on the number of employers who are voluntarily providing health care coverage to employees, organized by sector or industry;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Director of Human Resources Development, the Director of Health, the Director of Taxation, the State Comptroller, the Superintendent of Education, the Director of Human Services, the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Chief Justice, the Director of the Social Science Research Institute of the University of Hawaii, the Executive Director of the Hawaii Uninsured Project, the President of the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, the Mayor of the County of

Maui, the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, and the Mayor of the County of Kauai.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Prepaid Health Care Act; Definition of Eligible Employee; DLIR Study