STAND. COM. REP. NO. 348-06

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: H.B. No. 3116

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 3116 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure health care for all of Hawaii's children by establishing a temporary three-year Hawaii Children's Health Care Program in which the State, through the Department of Human Services (DHS), pays half the premiums for health care for uninsured children provided under a Hawaii Children's Health Care Program, a pilot program administered by the Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA).

HMSA and several concerned individuals supported this bill. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs opposed this measure. The Department of the Attorney General and DHS commented on this bill.

Your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1) Clarifying that the health care coverage for Hawaii's uninsured children will be provided by a public-private partnership between the State and a mutual benefit society that is established pursuant to Hawaii's Procurement Code;

(2) Directing that any private organization wishing to create a similar partnership with the State to provide health care coverage for Hawaii's uninsured children must offer a plan equal to or better than the plan used by the Hawaii Children's Health Care Program pilot program; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 3116, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 3116, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

 

____________________________

ALEX M. SONSON, Chair

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair