REPORT TITLE:
Health Fund


DESCRIPTION:
Requires employee-beneficiaries who retire after June 30, 2000,
if eligible, to enroll in the federal Medicare plan for voluntary
medical insurance coverage.  Provides that failure to enroll in
the Medicare voluntary medical insurance plan will make the
employee-beneficiary or dependent-beneficiary ineligible to
participate in any benefit plan or receive any contribution
offered by the public employees health fund.  (HB202 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        202
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES HEALTH FUND.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 87-27, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "�87-27  Supplemental plan to federal Medicare.  (a)
 
 4 Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, employee-beneficiaries
 
 5 who retire after June 30, 2000, and their spouses shall be
 
 6 required, if eligible, to enroll in the federal Medicare plan for
 
 7 voluntary medical insurance coverage.  Failure to enroll in the
 
 8 Medicare voluntary medical insurance plan shall deem the
 
 9 employee-beneficiary or dependent-beneficiary ineligible to
 
10 participate in any benefit plan or receive any contribution
 
11 offered by the fund.
 
12      (b)  Any other provision of this chapter notwithstanding,
 
13 the board of trustees shall establish, effective July 1, 1966, a
 
14 health benefit plan [which] that takes into account benefits
 
15 available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse under the federal
 
16 Medicare plan, subject to the following conditions:
 
17      (1)  There shall be no duplication of benefits payable under
 
18           federal Medicare but the plan so established by the
 
19           board shall be supplemental to the federal Medicare
 
20           plan[.];
 

 
Page 2                                                     202
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (2)  The contribution for voluntary medical insurance
 
 2           coverage under federal Medicare may be paid by the
 
 3           fund, in [such] a manner [as] that the board shall
 
 4           specify, in the case of an employee-beneficiary who is
 
 5           a retired employee, and spouse while the employee-
 
 6           beneficiary is living, including members of the old
 
 7           pension system and after death the employee-
 
 8           beneficiary's spouse; provided that the spouse
 
 9           qualifies as an employee-beneficiary; and provided
 
10           further that the counties, through their respective
 
11           departments of finance, shall reimburse the fund for
 
12           any contributions made for county employee-
 
13           beneficiaries under this paragraph[.];
 
14      (3)  The benefits available under the plan, when taken
 
15           together with the benefits available under the federal
 
16           Medicare plan [shall], as nearly as is possible, shall
 
17           approximate the benefits available under the plans set
 
18           forth in section 87-22.  If, for any reason, a
 
19           situation develops where the benefits available under
 
20           the supplemental plan and the federal Medicare plan
 
21           substantially differ from those that would otherwise be
 
22           available, the board is authorized to correct this
 
23           inequity to assure substantial equality of benefits[.];
 
24           and
 

 
Page 3                                                     202
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (4)  Any employee-beneficiary or dependent-beneficiary who
 
 2           is enrolled in the federal Medicare plan shall
 
 3           participate in the supplemental plan to be set up
 
 4           hereunder, and any employee-beneficiary or dependent-
 
 5           beneficiary eligible for, but not enrolled in the
 
 6           federal Medicare plan, may participate in such other
 
 7           plans as are set forth in section 87-22."
 
 8      SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 9 New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.