Report Title:

Hawaii Public Employees Health Fund, Analysis

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Public Employees Health Fund is the agency that contracts for, implements, and administers the health benefits and group life insurance plans for State and county government employees and retirees; and

WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the State to be the best possible manager of the funds in the health fund program, to ensure that the benefits are reasonable, necessary, and responsive to the needs of its employees; and

WHEREAS, however, low cost alone can never be an adequate criterion for the approval of a benefit program, as the State must also consider the affordability of the services offered under the program, and consider whether lower-cost alternatives might be a more prudent use of limited resources; and

WHEREAS, the State has a responsibility both to its employees and its taxpayers to ensure that the benefits offered under the health fund program are the best possible balance between affordable cost and reasonable benefits; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to do an audit and analysis of the benefits provided by the existing Public Employees Health Fund Program, by:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to present findings and recommendations to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and to the Administrator of the Hawaii Public Employees Health Fund.