STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1230

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 105

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 105 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES AND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO NOT CONSIDER CERTAIN BENEFITS UNDER TITLE II OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT AS INCOME WHEN DETERMINING MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY AND TO ADOPT RULES TO ALLOW A PROVIDER OF MEDICAID ADULT DAY HEALTH SERVICES TO BILL IN FIFTEEN MINUTE INCREMENTS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request that the Department of Human Services and Department of Health not consider as income the Social Security Act Title II benefit when determining eligibility for the state supplement to federal supplemental security income ("SSI") and Medicaid and requesting that each Department adopt rules to allow providers of Medicaid adult day health services to bill in fifteen minute increments.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Lanakila Pacific, Easter Seals Hawaii, The Arc in Hawaii, and sixty individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Services.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committees find that federal SSI is insufficient to cover the cost of necessary residential and health care services for individuals with disabilities who have extremely low income.  Your Committees further find that Hawaii has long recognized and addressed the shortfall in living income provided by SSI by authorizing a state supplemental payment to SSI.  However, eligibility for Medicaid and the state supplement to SSI are subject to an income qualification standard and, in some cases, the receipt of federal disability benefits causes an individual's total income to exceed the income qualification standard and the individual to become ineligible for Medicaid or the state supplement to SSI.  Your Committees find that considering social security disability income, or the increase thereof, as income when determining eligibility for state benefits causes extreme financial difficulty for affected individuals and service providers.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 105 and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair

 

________________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair