STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2635

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 940

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 940, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the review procedure process under the patients' bill of rights and responsibilities act.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Preserves the commissioner's discretion to convene a panel to hear cases for consumers in non-ERISA plans;

(2) Requires the commissioner to determine whether requests for external review concern an ERISA plan; and

(3) Requires the commissioner to retain a qualified nonprofit organization to serve as the state health consumer advocate to assist in evaluating requests, resolving disputes, and carrying out the purposes of the chapter.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kaiser Permanente, the Hawaii Medical Service Association, and the Hawaii Association of Health Plans.

Your Committee finds that several of the testifiers requesting amendments have noted that this measure is the only vehicle in which to address this issue. Therefore, your Committee has maintained the defective effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for continued discussion. Your Committee also made technical, nonsubstantive changes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 940, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 940, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair