STAND. COM. REP. NO 205

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 306

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 306 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require health insurance coverage of orthodontic treatment for orofacial anomalies.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Auditor, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Hawaii Dental Association, Kapi‘olani Medical Center Cleft and Craniofacial Center, Hawaii Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Family Voices of Hawai‘i, and seventeen individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

     Your Committees find that it is estimated that one in five hundred children in the State is born with orofacial anomalies such as cleft lip or cleft palate.  Orthodontic services for the treatment of orofacial anomalies are not included as a benefit of commercial health plans.  Without orthodontic treatment, appropriate care and reconstructive surgical outcomes are compromised and result in functional deficiencies in chewing, swallowing, respiration, speech, unstable or malpositioned oral structures, premature tooth loss, and other health problems.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 306 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair