REPORT TITLE:
Medical assistance


DESCRIPTION:
Provides medical assistance, of up to two hundred per cent of the
federal poverty level for Hawaii, to persons less than nineteen
years of age and who are legal immigrant residents who arrived
after August 22, 1996, permanently residing under color of law,
and nonimmigrants from the Trust Territories of the Pacific
Islands who are citizens of the Marshall Islands, the Federated
States of Micronesia, or Palau. (HB540 CD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        540
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            C.D. 1
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that with the enactment of
 
 2 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Responsibility
 
 3 Act of 1996, Congress stripped away medical assistance and other
 
 4 benefits from income qualified immigrants.  However, a citizen's
 
 5 right to access these benefits were untouched.  Despite the fact
 
 6 that scholars, courts, and attorney generals have declared these
 
 7 discriminatory provisions illegal, Hawaii has failed to accord
 
 8 immigrants the equal protections they are entitled.
 
 9      The legislature further finds that the State's children's
 
10 health insurance program is expected, upon approval by the
 
11 federal health care financing administration, to enroll all
 
12 uninsured children under nineteen whose family's income does not
 
13 exceed two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for
 
14 Hawaii.  The 1999 legislature appropriated up to ten per cent
 
15 from the Hawaii tobacco master settlement agreement to implement
 
16 the State's children's health insurance program.
 
17      The legislature believes that it has an opportunity to not
 
18 only increase the numbers of uninsured children receiving medical
 
19 assistance, but to provide medical assistance to all permanent
 

 
Page 2                                                     540
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                                                        C.D. 1

 
 1 legal immigrant children as well as other children for whom the
 
 2 federal government does not provide medical assistance.
 
 3      The purpose of this Act is to provide medical assistance, of
 
 4 up to two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for
 
 5 Hawaii, to persons less than nineteen years of age and who are:
 
 6      (1)  Legal immigrant residents who arrived after August 22,
 
 7           1996;
 
 8      (2)  Permanently residing under color of law; and
 
 9      (3)  Nonimmigrants from the Trust Territories of the Pacific
 
10           Islands who are citizens of the Marshall Islands, the
 
11           Federated States of Micronesia, or Palau, or whenever
 
12           the federal government does not provide medical
 
13           assistance.
 
14      SECTION 2.  Chapter 346, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
15 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
16 read as follows:
 
17      "�346-    Medical assistance to other children.  The
 
18 department shall provide state-funded medical assistance, of up
 
19 to two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for Hawaii,
 
20 to persons less than nineteen years of age who are:
 
21      (1)  Legal permanent residents who arrived after August 22,
 
22           1996;
 
23      (2)  Persons who are permanently residing under color of
 
24           law; and
 

 
Page 3                                                     540
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        C.D. 1

 
 1      (3)  Nonimmigrants from the Trust Territories of the Pacific
 
 2           Islands who are citizens of:
 
 3           (A)  The Marshall Islands;
 
 4           (B)  The Federated States of Micronesia; or
 
 5           (C)  Palau, as defined by the Compact of Free
 
 6                Association Act of 1985, P.L. 99-239, or the
 
 7                Compact of Free Association between the United
 
 8                States and the Government of Palau, P.L. 99-658,
 
 9 who are otherwise eligible for benefits under the State's
 
10 medicaid programs, including QUEST and the State's children
 
11 health insurance program, but are ineligible due to restricted
 
12 eligibility rules imposed by Title XXI of the Social Security
 
13 Act, the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of
 
14 1996, the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985, P.L. 99-239,
 
15 the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the
 
16 Government of Palau, P.L. 99-658, or any other provision of
 
17 federal law denying medical assistance to nonimmigrants who are
 
18 citizens of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of
 
19 Micronesia, or Palau."
 
20      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
21      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.