STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1531

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1467

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1467, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII HEALTH CONNECTOR,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Enable the Hawaii Health Connector (Connector) to offer large group coverage to insurers, beginning January 1, 2017;

     (2)  End transitional renewal policies, beginning January 1, 2016;

     (3)  Require health insurers to provide notice to group health plans offering continuation coverage about options to secure affordable coverage under the Connector; and

     (4)  Expand the potential small businesses market in the Connector by changing the threshold number of employees under the definition of "small employer" in section 431:2-201.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to an unspecified number of employees.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Primary Care Association.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

     Your Committees find that this measure offers several options to strengthen the Connector, including ending transitional renewal policies on January 1, 2016.  Your Committees note that transitional renewal policies, also known as grandmothered health plans, do not provide all of the features and protections of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Affordable Care Act).  Ending these transitional renewal policies on January 1, 2016, will simplify health plan choices for individuals and small businesses and will ensure that all plans offered in Hawaii are fully compliant with the Affordable Care Act.

     Your Committees further find that section 1304(b)(2) of the Affordable Care Act defines a small employer as an employer who employs an average of at least one but not more than one hundred employees.  Amending the definition of "small employer" in section 431:2-201.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to conform to the definition in section 1304(b)(2) of the Affordable Care Act may help expand the potential market for small businesses in the Connector's small business health options program.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1467, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair