STAND. COM. REP. NO. 612

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1918

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1918 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Children's Health Care Program as a temporary three-year pilot program to provide health care coverage to uninsured children.

     The Hawaii Medical Service Association, the Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, and the Hawaii Family Forum submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Human Services and Family Voices of Hawai‘i submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.

     Your Committees find that there is a gap group of uninsured children in the State that is ineligible for any state or federal health care coverage.  Your Committees further find that children who remain uninsured typically do not receive an appropriate level of medical care.  The State has an opportunity to help provide health care coverage for children in the gap group through public‑private partnerships.  The cost of the premiums to insure children in the gap group can be split equally between the State and the partnering entity.

     It is your Committees' intent to expand health care coverage for children in Hawaii.  Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Providing continuous, quality health care services to uninsured newborn children between one and thirty-one days of age by establishing the Hawaii Infant Care Special Fund;

     (2)  Providing health care coverage to certain children between thirty-one days to eighteen years old through a public‑private partnership between the Department of Human Services and a managed care plan instead of a mutual benefit society;

     (3)  Providing that, to qualify, the aforementioned children must have been ineligible during the six months the children were uninsured for any other state or federal health care coverage and are currently ineligible for any other state or federal health care coverage;

     (4)  Providing access to medical care free-of-charge for certain children nineteen years of age or younger whose family income is at or below three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level;

     (5)  Providing medical assistance under QUEST-Net at no charge to children nineteen years or younger whose family income is at or above two hundred fifty per cent and does not exceed three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for Hawaii and who are otherwise eligible for QUEST-Net benefits;

     (6)  Appropriating the following sums:

          (A)  $500,000 to the Hawaii Infant Care Special Fund;

          (B)  $1,000,000 to provide health care coverage to certain children between thirty-one days to eighteen years old pursuant to part I of this measure; and

          (C)  $3,000,000 to provide QUEST-Net at no charge to certain children nineteen years or younger pursuant to part IV of this measure; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1918, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1918, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair