STAND. COM. REP. NO. 374

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 924

       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 Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 924 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH COVERAGE FOR BRAIN INJURIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require certain insurance contracts and plans to provide coverage beginning January 1, 2016, for treatment of brain injuries, including cognitive and neurocognitive therapy, neurobehavioral and neuropsychological testing or treatment, and necessary post-acute transition services or community reintegration activities for a period of at least twenty years from the date the injury occurred and up to a lifetime cap per person of $300,000.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Family Voices of Hawai‘i and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

     Your Committees find that traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults. While survivors of traumatic brain injury can lead full lives due to lifesaving medical techniques and rehabilitation services, they face a long rehabilitation process that may not be covered by certain health benefit plans.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting a definition for "cognitive rehabilitation therapy"; and

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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. 924, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 924, S.D. 1, 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