STAND. COM. REP. NO. 452

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1739

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1739 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to prevent deaths caused by colorectal cancer and to increase public awareness about the importance of colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy.

 

     Specifically, this measure requires health insurance policies to cover screening for colorectal cancer by colonoscopy every ten years, beginning at age fifty.

 

     The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Medical Service Association, and American Family Life Assurance Company submitted comments on this measure.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Kaiser Permanente, and Aloha Care.

 

     Your Committees find that colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the United States in individuals age fifty and older.  Hawaii has the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the nation.  Your Committees further find that it is also one of the most preventable types of cancer.  Regular screening tests can find precancerous colorectal polyps so they can be removed before they turn into cancer.

     Your Committees find that requiring colorectal screening by colonoscopy is not appropriate for certain types of supplementary health insurance, such as limited benefit insurance policies.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees amended this measure by removing limited benefit insurance policies from the requirement to cover colonoscopies for colorectal cancer screening, and placed the new provision for accident and health insurance in the more appropriate section 431:10A-116, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which provides for coverage for specific services.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1739, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1739, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing,

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair