Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1235 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to extend the Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) in the Department of Health's Maluhia long-term care health center to June 30, 2007.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

Your Committees find that PACE provides a complete package of services that enhances the quality of life for elderly participants. A benefit to families, as well as the State, is that PACE costs less than what Medicare, Medicaid, and private individuals currently pay for long-term care. Thus, your Committees believe that PACE should be extended because it allows the viability of a cost-effective statewide program offering quality community-based, long-term care programs to be evaluated.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1235 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.