HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

153

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting an actuarial study on health insurance parity for the treatment of alcohol dependency and drug dependency.

 

WHEREAS, Act 202, Session Laws of Hawaii 1988 (Act 202), codified in chapter 431M, Hawaii Revised Statutes (Chapter 431M), mandated limited insurance coverage for the treatment of mental illness, alcohol dependency, and drug dependency; and

WHEREAS, Act 202 was originally set to be repealed on July 1, 1994, but subsequent amendments extended the repeal date to July 1, 2002; and

WHEREAS, Act 121, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999 (Act 121), established a distinction between "mental illness" and "serious mental illness", required insurance coverage for the latter to be no less than that provided for other covered medical and surgical conditions, exempted individual health plans, group health plans with twenty-five or fewer employees, and government employee health plans from the requirement, and was scheduled for repeal on July 1, 2005; and

WHEREAS, Act 243, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000 (Act 243), amended Act 121 by repealing the exemption for group health plans with twenty-five or fewer employees and government employee health plans, by establishing the general applicability of chapter 431M to these entities, and by moving up Act 121's repeal date to June 30, 2003; and

WHEREAS, Act 239, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, made permanent the mandate for limited coverage of mental illness, alcohol dependency, and drug dependency by repealing Act 202's repeal date, but did not address the impending repeal of Act 121 which requires coverage parity for serious mental illness; and

WHEREAS, the Senate has approved and transmitted to the House of Representatives S.B. No. 1321 (2003), an Administration measure that proposes to make permanent the mandate for health insurance parity for the treatment of serious mental illness; and

WHEREAS, if S.B. No. 1321 is enacted into law, coverage for the treatment of serious mental illness under group and government employee health plans will be permanently on par with coverage for the treatment of other covered medical or surgical conditions; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature should consider requiring parity in coverage for the treatment of alcohol dependency and drug dependency; and

WHEREAS, prior to proposing such a requirement, the Legislature should consider the implications thereof, including the potential impact on health care costs; and

WHEREAS, an actuarial study would assist the Legislature in its consideration of this issue; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the Insurance Commissioner is requested to conduct an actuarial study of a health insurance scheme that requires treatment for alcohol dependency and drug dependency, at rates and on terms and conditions no less favorable than those applicable to treatment for medical and surgical conditions currently required to be covered by health insurers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Insurance Commissioner shall submit to the Legislature a report of findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2004; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Insurance Commissioner.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment; Actuarial Study