STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2628

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2351

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2351, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILDHOOD OBESITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase awareness of childhood obesity by requiring health care providers to perform annual body mass index measurements on children and requiring insurers to cover the costs of the procedure.

     More specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Requires primary physicians and pediatricians to provide an annual body mass index measurement to every patient from age two to eighteen years and anonymously report age and body mass index statistics to the Hawaii Health Information Exchange;

     (2)  Requires all individual or group health insurance policies to provide coverage for annual body mass index measurements; and

     (3)  Requires all health plan contracts issued or renewed in Hawaii after January 1, 2015, to cover expenses related to body mass index measurements.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from one individual.  Written comments on this measure were submitted by the Health Resources Administration, Department of Health.

     Your Committee finds that childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects many of Hawaii's children and adolescents.  Childhood obesity often leads to health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.  Your Committee further finds that accurate monitoring of a child's body mass index measurement can reduce the risk of childhood obesity and other health-related problems associated with childhood obesity. 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2351, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2351, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair