Report Title:

Health Care Coverage Assistance

Description:

Temporarily expands eligibility for the Hawaii children's health care program to assist children of workers employed on March 29, 2008, by a Hawaii interisland air carrier that was in bankruptcy proceedings on that date.  (SB69 HD3)

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	69
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 3

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH CARE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The purpose of this Act is to make health insurance available until December 31, 2008, for the children of those employees who were employed on March 29, 2008, by a Hawaii interisland air carrier that was in bankruptcy proceedings on that date.  This Act does so by expanding eligibility for the Hawaii children's health care program.

     SECTION 2.  Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, is amended by amending section 3 to read as follows:

     "SECTION 3.  (a)  There is established the Hawaii children's health care program as a temporary three-year pilot program to provide health care coverage to uninsured children who live in Hawaii.  The department of human services shall provide health care coverage through a public-private partnership, established as a contract to provide health and human services pursuant to chapter 103F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, between the department and one or more managed care plans operating in the state under chapter 432, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that offers accident and health or sickness insurance plans.

     (b)  It is not the intent of the legislature to discourage employers from offering to pay, or from paying for, dependent coverage for their employees, nor that this Act supplant employer‑sponsored dependent coverage plans.

     (c)  To qualify, a child shall:

     (1)  Be at least thirty-one days to less than nineteen years old;

     (2)  Be living in Hawaii;

     (3)  Have been uninsured continually for at least six months; provided that infants thirty-one days to six months of age shall have been uninsured continually since birth; and

     (4)  Have been ineligible during the six months the child was uninsured for any other state or federal health care coverage and be currently ineligible for any other state or federal health care coverage; provided that:

         (A)  All children enrolled in a managed care plan's children's plan as of the effective date of this Act shall be eligible for enrollment into the Hawaii children's health care program without being subject to the requirement of being uninsured for the precedent six months in  subsection (c)(3);

         (B)  Children who are at least thirty-one days but less than nineteen years old who become ineligible for a med‑QUEST division health care coverage program due to an increase in family income may enroll in the program upon disenrollment from a med‑QUEST division health care coverage program; and

         (C)  Uninsured newborn children who are one day, but not more than thirty days of age who were enrolled in the Hawaii infant health care program shall be eligible for enrollment in the Hawaii children's health care program without being subject to the requirement of being uninsured for the precedent six months in subsection (c)(3).

(d)  In lieu of paragraphs (c)(3) and (4), a child may also qualify if the child is uninsured due to the loss of the parent's or legal guardian's health insurance; provided that the child's parent or legal guardian was employed on March 29, 2008, by a Hawaii inter-island air carrier that was in bankruptcy proceedings on that date.  The eligibility requirements of paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) shall still apply.  Furthermore, coverage received based upon meeting the eligibility requirements of this subsection shall continue only until the earlier of the following:

(1) The former employee parent or legal guardian of the covered child becomes employed and covered by a prepaid health care plan; or

(2) December 31, 2008.

     [(d)] (e)  The department of human services and the managed care plans shall share equally in the cost of the premium for each child enrolled in the program subject to the appropriation of general funds for the program.

     [(e)] (f)  The department of human services shall pay the State's share of the premiums under the program on a quarterly basis.

     [(f)] (g)  The managed care plans participating in the pilot program shall be responsible for determining the eligibility of program applicants and of enrolling applicants in the pilot program.

     [(g)] (h)  The managed care plans participating in the program shall provide a quarterly report to the department of human services and the legislature on the number of children enrolled in the program.

     [(h)] (i)  The department shall ensure that other private organizations have the opportunity to partner with the State to offer coverage to uninsured children under the program; provided that plan benefits to be provided shall be equal to or better than those offered through the program established by the State and managed care plans under subsection (a).

     [(i)] (j)  The department of human services and any participating managed care plan shall report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the start of the 2008 and 2009 regular sessions on:

     (1)  Any problems experienced with the program involving crowding out eligible participants;

     (2)  Instances of people canceling their previous coverage to receive this free coverage;

     (3)  The amount of funding used and for what purposes;

     (4)  Any other problems encountered in the administration of the program; and

     (5)  Any proposed legislation."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that this Act shall be repealed on December 31, 2008.