STAND. COM. REP. NO. 316

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 963

       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 Human Services and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 963 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEARING AIDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require health insurance coverage for hearing aids for people with all types of hearing loss and specify a minimum amount of coverage and frequency for replacement of hearing aids under coverage.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Disability and Communications Access Board; Aloha State Association of the Deaf; American Speech Language Hearing Association; Hands and Voices Hawaii; National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, Hawaii State Federation of Chapters; Isle Interpret; and sixteen individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Health, Office of the Auditor, and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

Your Committees find that the high cost of hearing aids often deters individuals and families who suffer from hearing loss from getting hearing aid devices when they are needed.  Hearing aid prices begin around $2,000 and can cost as much as $3,000 or higher per ear or hearing aid.  Your Committees further find that while most health insurance plans in Hawaii cover the purchase of hearing aids, the plans do not contain important provisions about limits on coverage, frequency for replacing hearing aids, or costs covered by insurers.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the required insurance coverage for hearing aids from a maximum benefit of $1,500 per hearing-impaired ear every thirty-six months to a minimum benefit of $1,500 per hearing-impaired ear every thirty-six months;

     (2)  Removing the provision that exempts qualified health plans offered by health carriers through the Hawaii Health Connector from the coverage mandate so that the coverage requirements apply to all health insurance policies; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing 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. 963, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 963, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair