STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1148

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 154

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 154 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO ASSESS THE SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF REQUIRING HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR TOBACCO USE CESSATION TREATMENTS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Auditor to assess the social and financial effects of requiring health insurance coverage for tobacco use cessation treatments.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Kaiser Permanente and Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

 

     Your Committees find that smoking is costly to employers in terms of smoking-related medical expenses and lost productivity and is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.  On average, smokers who quit will live longer and have fewer years of living with disability.  Your Committees find that studies have shown that face-to-face counseling and interactive telephone counseling are more effective tobacco use cessation treatments than services that only provide educational or self-help materials, and the effectiveness of counseling services increases as the number and length of the sessions increase.

 

     Your Committees find that employers who provide a tobacco use cessation benefit have reported an increase in the number of smokers who are willing to undergo treatment and an increase in the percentage of those who successfully quit smoking.  Your Committees also find that, over time, tobacco use cessation coverage generates financial returns for employers, including:

 

     (1)  Reduced health care costs;

 

     (2)  Reduced absenteeism;

 

     (3)  Increased on-the-job productivity; and

 

     (4)  Reduced life insurance costs.

 

As a result, your Committees request the Auditor to assess the social and financial effects of requiring health insurance coverage for tobacco use cessation treatments.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by identifying Senate Bill No. 654 as the appropriate bill to be assessed by the Auditor.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 154, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 154, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair