THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	141
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

Urging the united states congress to increase the medicare reimbursement rates for hawaii.

     WHEREAS, Medicare uses monthly per person, or per capita, county rates to determine payments to managed care plans; and

     WHEREAS, in the last decade, the United States Congress has made several changes to how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calculate these county rates; and

     WHEREAS, under the old system, managed care rates and local fee-for-service costs were linked and payment rates per county varied widely; and

     WHEREAS, a new rate-setting methodology was created under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, that eliminated this link and reduced the wide disparities in county capitation rates; and

     WHEREAS, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, returned to the concept of linking managed care rates and local fee-for-service costs; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is among the states that receive the lowest Medicare reimbursement in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, the current formula used to set the Medicare reimbursement rates strives to control overall spending without calculating the overall costs of providing healthcare or including the cost of living in a particular area; and

     WHEREAS, as a result, reimbursement rates are not keeping pace with the rising cost of delivering healthcare in this State; and

     WHEREAS, while costs in Hawaii are comparable to other states such as California, Hawaii's Medicare reimbursement rates are lower; and

     WHEREAS, this is causing an immeasurable strain on our healthcare system as physicians leave the State and hospitals try to absorb the unfunded costs because of inadequate reimbursement rates; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the United States Congress is urged to reexamine the way that Medicare is administered and funded; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress is urged to create a more equitable formula that considers the overall costs of providing healthcare and reduces the disparity in reimbursement rates between areas with comparable costs of living; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Hawaii Congressional delegation.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Medicare; Reimbursement Rates