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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
172 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
URGING CONGRESS TO APPROVE THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL HEALTH CARE ACT.
WHEREAS, every person in the State of Hawaii deserves to have high quality and affordable health care; and
WHEREAS, the cost of health care in Hawaii and the nation is escalating exponentially; and
WHEREAS, health insurance premium costs and prescription drug costs are rising rapidly; and
WHEREAS, in 1974, Hawaii implemented tremendous health insurance reform by establishing the Prepaid Health Care Act, making Hawaii the first and only state in the United States to initiate an employer-based health insurance program; and
WHEREAS, once the Prepaid Health Care Act went into effect, the uninsured rate dropped from thirty per cent to five per cent, giving Hawaii the record for the fewest uninsured residents of any state; and
WHEREAS, unfortunately, the success has started to diminish over the years and Hawaii is currently battling uninsured rates of nearly ten per cent of the State's population; and
WHEREAS, today, more than one hundred thousand Hawaii residents are without any health care insurance coverage, and more than twelve thousand of the uninsured are children; and
WHEREAS, some Hawaii residents are under-insured, or unable to use their insurance properly or even at all, because of increasingly expensive deductibles and out-of-pocket co‑payments for outpatient visits, diagnostic tests, and prescription drugs, among other factors; and
WHEREAS, there is a growing crisis in health care across the United States of America, manifested in rising health care costs, increased premiums, out-of-pocket spending, decreased international business competitiveness, and massive layoffs; and
WHEREAS, medical bills contribute to half of all bankruptcies, and three-quarters of those who have filed for bankruptcy had health insurance at the on-set of the illness or injury; and
WHEREAS, the increasing expense of Medicaid and the rising costs of insuring state employees and teachers can best be met not by limiting benefits, but by expanding them under a national, publicly-funded health insurance program; and
WHEREAS, the United States Representatives John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich have introduced H.R. 676, the United States National Health Care Act, in the United States House of Representatives for the 111th Congress, and this Act would provide a universal, comprehensive, single payer system of high quality national health insurance; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the House of Representatives concurring, that this Legislature respectfully urges the United States Congress to enact H.R. 676, the United States National Health Care Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.
United States National Health Care Act