STAND. COM. REP. NO. 597

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1727

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1727 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO QUEST ENROLLMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to eliminate the cap on enrollment in the QUEST program and to make individuals at or below three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level eligible; to direct the Department of Human Services to apply for an amendment of the state waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and to appropriate funds for this purpose.

     The Hawai‘i Primary Care Association and the Healthcare Association of Hawaii submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Human Services submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.

     Your Committee received a statement from the Department of Human Services that this measure, if passed, would cost the State approximately $304,216,614.  The cost projection includes the Aged, Blind, and Disabled population.  However, it does not include long‑term care costs.

     Your Committee finds that the current cap on enrollment in the QUEST program prevents many adults, especially non‑pregnant women, who are income and asset eligible from enrolling in the program.  These excluded but eligible adults are at high risk for not obtaining necessary primary and preventive care and necessary prescription drugs, and are more likely to incur or generate unnecessary emergency room costs because of their uninsured status.

     It is your Committee's intent to expand enrollment in the QUEST program by eliminating the enrollment cap.  Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to enroll all eligible individuals who are at or under one hundred fifty per cent of the federal poverty level instead of three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1727, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1727, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Public Housing,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair