Report Title:

Keiki Care

Description:

Amends the Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, which established the Hawaii children's health care program, to extend the program for three more years and require that participants receive primary health care services at federally qualified health centers.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	989
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

ReLATING TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE.

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

     SECTION 1.  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)  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)  Primary health care services for participants in the Hawaii children's health care program shall be provided by a federally qualified health center, as recognized by the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  The managed care plan partner shall establish payment plans with the state's federally qualified health centers to cover the costs of the participants' primary health care services.

     [(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] 2010 and [2009] 2011 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[.]; and

(6) Any proposals on funding sources other than the State."

     SECTION 2.  Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, is amended by amending section 14 to read as follows:

     "SECTION 14.  This Act shall take effect [upon] on July 1, 2007; provided that on June 30, 2010, with the exception of section 3, this Act shall be repealed and section 346-59.4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the effective date of this Act[.]; and provided further that on June 30, 2012, section 3 of this Act shall be repealed."

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009-2010 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2010-2011 for the Hawaii children's health care program established under section 3 of Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.

INTRODUCED BY:

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