STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2206

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2844

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2844 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANATOMICAL TRANSPLANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to prohibit health insurers from denying coverage for an organ or tissue transplant:

     (1)  If the denial is due to the insured's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status; and

     (2)  If the insured's health insurance policy includes coverage for such services.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Kaiser Permanente and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.  Comments were received from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawaii Association of Health Plans.  Testimony in opposition was received from the Hawaii Medical Service Association.

     Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that organ transplants are among the most expensive of medical procedures.  In 2007, total bills for a liver transplant during the first year averaged $520,000, and $660,000 for a heart transplant, according to a Seattle-based actuarial consulting firm.

Your Committee also finds that much progress has been made in recent years in the fight against HIV/AIDS, improving not only the quality of life for people infected with the virus, but affording many of them a normal life expectancy.  Kidney disease and liver disease now pose two of the greatest threats to HIV-infected individuals, and until recently, the chances of these patients receiving new organs were slim.  Thanks to groundbreaking research, HIV infection is no longer an impenetrable barrier to a successful transplant.  Given these developments, your Committee finds that this measure will save lives and further prevent discrimination against those living with HIV.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2844 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair