STAND. COM. REP. NO.894-02
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2085
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Health and Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 2085, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH, ALCOHOL, AND DRUG ABUSE,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to provide mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse treatment benefits for children, under the age of nineteen, of public employees.
The Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association, Hawaii Psychological Association, Mental Health Association in Hawaii, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Oahu, and the Hawaii Governmental Employees Association supported this bill. The Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Education opposed this measure. Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaii Medical Service Association, and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii offered comments.
Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting the provisions of H.B. No. 1857, H.D. 1, which:
(1) Requires mental illness benefits to be provided to minors to the same extent as provided to adults;
(2) Requires that benefits for a minor for serious mental illness and for alcohol dependence and drug dependence shall be provided as clinically necessary;
(3) Prohibits health insurance plans from imposing rates, terms, or conditions on mental illness benefits to minors if similar rates, terms, or conditions are not applied to services for other medical or surgical conditions;
(4) Defines "minor" to mean an individual under the age of eighteen;
(5) Includes major depression in the definition of "serious mental illness" as applied to minors; and
(6) Makes permanent Act 121, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, which allowed for the coverage of serious mental illness benefits.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Consumer Protection and Commerce that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2085, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2085, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Consumer Protection and Commerce,
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____________________________ KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair |
____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair |
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