STAND. COM. REP. NO.  221-10

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2774

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2774 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to replace the QUEST program with public assistance programs that were replaced by QUEST, including the State Health Insurance Program, and requiring those previous programs to have similar benefits as QUEST.

 

     The Department of Human Services opposed this bill.  The Department of the Attorney General offered comments.

 

     Your Committees note concerns regarding the State's section 1115 waiver of the Social Security Act, which authorizes the approval of Hawaii's QUEST program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Termination of QUEST would require coordination with and approval by CMS, and it would be difficult to set a deadline for termination.

 

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2774, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2774, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,

 

 

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair

 

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair