STAND. COM. REP. NO. 226

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 745

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 745 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 require any health insurer with at least a twenty percent share of the health insurance market to submit its qualified plans and qualified dental plans for inclusion in the Hawaii Health Connector.

 

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

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure requires any health insurer who services more than twenty percent of the health insurance marketplace to offer coverage on the Hawaii Health Connector.  Sometimes referred to as a tying provision, this requirement, allowable under federal law, is intended to give equal access to Hawaii's major insurance providers.  Your Committee notes that although there may be differences on how the policy is implemented in each state, a majority of states have already adopted a tying provision similar to the one proposed by this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 745, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 745, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair