HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

39

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND TO JOIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES QUEST PROGRAM IN IMPLEMENTING A HEALTH INSURANCE PUBLIC PURCHASING POOL.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Department of Human Services first received approval to implement the QUEST program in July 1993, from the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and

 

WHEREAS, the QUEST program is designed to provide quality care, ensure universal access, encourage efficient utilization, stabilize costs, and transform the way health care is provided to its members; and

 

WHEREAS, the objectives of Hawaii's 1993 QUEST proposal, as documented to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, were to streamline health service delivery, contain drug costs, control overutilization of health services, develop standard health benefits packages, and develop health insurance public purchasing pools; and

 

WHEREAS, the 1993 QUEST proposal called for the phased implementation of various health benefit plans for populations such as: 1) The low-income and needy, 2) the aged, disabled and blind, 3) state employees, and 4) small business associations; and

 

WHEREAS, the QUEST program implemented the first phase of its 1993 proposal in August 1994 by providing capitated benefit plans, which include medical, dental and behavioral health benefits, to the State's needy and low-income beneficiaries; and

 

WHEREAS, the QUEST program implemented another phase of its 1993 proposal in February 2009 by providing capitated benefit plans to aged, disabled and blind beneficiaries through the QUEST Expanded Access demonstration project; and

 

WHEREAS, the next phase of QUEST calls for the implementation of a public purchasing pool to procure capitated benefit plans for other groups, including state employees; and

 

WHEREAS, the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund is experiencing financial difficulties due to the current budget deficit, and a public purchasing pool would promote cost containment and ensure the continuation of affordable health benefits to state employees; and

 

WHEREAS, the QUEST program is projected to experience an 8.3 percent cost increase in fiscal year 2009-2010, and the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund is projected to experience a 20 to 26 percent cost increase in fiscal year 2009-2010; now, therefore,

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund is urged to join the Department of Human Services QUEST program in implementing a health insurance public purchasing pool; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund Board of Directors, and the Hawaii Department of Human Services.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

BY REQUEST

Report Title: 

Urging The Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund To Join The Department Of Human Services Quest Program In Implementing A Health Insurance Public Purchasing Pool