STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2183

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2084

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2084 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit an insurer from requiring a doctor's referral for annual covered mammograms for insureds over the age of forty.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from HMSA BSH, Inc.; Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; the American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific, Inc.; Kaiser Permanente; and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the State Insurance Commissioner on behalf of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that routine mammograms are vital in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer and therefore mammograms should be made as accessible and affordable as possible.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing references to the term "mammogram" to "screening mammogram" per a recommendation from HMSA BSH, Inc. in order to differentiate screening mammograms from diagnostic mammograms, which should be performed under the direction of a physician; and

     (2)  Making technical, Nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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. 2084, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2084, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair