STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3500

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1599

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require QUEST and Medicaid coverage for chiropractic services.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

     Your Committee finds that Med-QUEST currently covers chiropractic care for persons under twenty-one years of age if the visits are medically necessary under certain federal requirements.  There are twenty-six states that cover chiropractic services for adults, with varying levels of allowable services and covered visits.  Your Committee notes that the Department of Human Services has estimated that the cost of covering chiropractic care under QUEST and Medicaid plans will be $7,200,000 in combined state and federal funds for six months of fiscal year 2016-2017, $3,886,560 of which would be state funds.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Limiting the coverage of chiropractic services offered by this measure to services approved by the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the state plan amendment; and

(2)  Inserting an unspecified appropriation for chiropractic services.

     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 H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1599, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair