STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1125

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 26

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 26 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO ASSESS THE SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF REQUIRING HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR COLONOSCOPY COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to request that the Auditor assess the social and financial effects of requiring health insurance coverage for colonoscopy colorectal cancer screening.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the American Cancer Society and Kaiser Permanente.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that although colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, it is also one of the most treatable forms of cancer when diagnosed early through available diagnostic techniques such as colonoscopy.  Your Committees find that colonoscopy is considered a safe and highly effective diagnostic technique that studies have shown to be more accurate and less invasive than other forms of screening.  Your Committees further find that the cost of colonoscopy is far lower than the cost of treatment for colorectal cancer.  Your Committees note that while section 23-51, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires an assessment by the Auditor of the social and financial effects of proposed coverage before insurance coverage of specific diseases or health services may be mandated, the Legislature retains the right to enact laws to protect the general health, safety, and welfare of the State and its residents.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by substituting the language of House Concurrent Resolution No. 109, a similar measure which has been previously approved by the Committee on Health. 

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 26, 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. 26, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair