STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2495

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2383

       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 S.B. No. 2383, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to repeal the Hawaii Health Connector and associated references in the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Office of Enterprise Technology Services.  The Attorney General provided written comments on the measure.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's health insurance exchange, the Hawaii Health Connector (Connector), was established in 2011 and charged with implementing applicable parts of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.  However, due to Hawaii's small population, the highly successful Prepaid Health Care Act of 1974, and expanded Medicaid coverage that resulted in lower numbers of uninsured residents in the State, the Connector was unable to meet the financial sustainability requirements imposed by the federal government.

Your Committee also finds that the Connector ceased operations on December 4, 2015.  The State has since enlisted the assistance of six state departments to comply with federal requirements and ensure a smooth transition for enrollees from the Connector to a state-based marketplace that utilizes the federal platform.  Accordingly, this measure repeals the Connector as part of the transition to a federally supported, state-based exchange.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by:

(1)  Amending the language contained in section 4 of the measure to more clearly state that the debts and liabilities of the Connector remain the debts and liabilities of the Connector and are not the responsibility of the State; and

(2)  Making a technical nonsubstantive amendment for the purpose of clarity.

     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. 2383, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2383, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair