STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3012

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1599

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require and provide funds to medical assistance programs, including Medicaid and QUEST, for chiropractic coverage of up to 24 visits in a calendar year; and

 

     (2)  Require the Department of Human Services to submit a request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to amend the state Medicaid plan to include chiropractic services as a benefit, allowing the State to receive federal reimbursement.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committees find that there are twenty-six states that cover chiropractic care for adults, with the number of covered visits varying from four visits per year to twenty-six visits per year.  In these states, coverage is limited to manual manipulation of the spine to treat subluxation of the spine demonstrated by an x‑ray and is not provided for preventative or maintenance care.

 

     Your Committees further find that if this measure passes with an appropriation, the Med-QUEST Division of the Department of Health is directed to apply for federal approval through a state plan amendment, which means that this measure should take effect no sooner than the receipt of federal approval of the state plan amendment.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting language that would have appropriated funds to medical assistance programs, including Medicaid and QUEST, to provide coverage for chiropractic care for up to twenty-four visits in a calendar year;

 

     (2)  Inserting language to make the effective date of this measure contingent upon approval of a state medicaid plan amendment; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

________________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair