Report Title:

Naturopathy; Mandated Coverage for Public Employees

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, alternative medicine is gradually, but surely being integrated into America's health care system; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at the National Institutes of Health was established to conduct research into various alternative therapies and healing philosophies and to disseminate information to practitioners and the public; and

WHEREAS, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that for the 1999-2000 academic year, two out of three medical schools in the United States included CAM-related content as part of a required course, and one out of two offered an elective CAM course; and

WHEREAS, while some in mainstream medicine may still view alternative or complementary practitioners, such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and naturopaths, with some skepticism, patients are increasingly driving the demand for their services; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, JAMA reported a forty-seven per cent increase in the number of visits to alternative medicine practitioners, from 427,000,000 to 629,000,000, exceeding total visits to all primary care physicians; and

WHEREAS, naturopathic medicine is a form of alternative medicine that seeks to promote health by stimulating and supporting the body's inherent power to regain harmony and balance through the use of various therapies, including nutrition, structural adjustment, and hydrotherapy; and

WHEREAS, in a 1989 report entitled, "Study of Proposed Mandatory Health Insurance for Naturopathic Care", the Auditor assessed the social and financial impacts of mandating insurance coverage for naturopathic care; and

WHEREAS, of the twenty-four underwriters of indemnity medical plans surveyed by the Auditor, only two had implemented nominal premium increases for individual plans that covered naturopathic services, and no group plan raised its premiums; and

WHEREAS, an actuarial firm that assisted the Auditor in assessing the financial impacts of mandated naturopathic coverage reported that "some carriers feel plans that include naturopathic services will save money...the treatments they use are less costly than those that might be recommended or prescribed by medical doctors, and many treatments have no direct costs attached to them"; and

WHEREAS, the Auditor's report concluded that there was no evidence that naturopathic coverage increased health care costs; and

WHEREAS, state and county public employees receive health insurance coverage under the Hawaii Public Employees Health Fund (Health Fund); and

WHEREAS, public employees would be able to take advantage of the benefits of naturopathic care if naturopathic coverage were mandated under all Health Fund health benefit plans; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Auditor is requested to assess the social and financial impacts of mandating naturopathic care coverage for public employees under chapter 87, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor's study include a review of states that grant prescriptive authority to naturopaths and of health and safety issues related to this authority; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

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