STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3020

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2144

H.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2144, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATED TO MEDICAID,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to inform inmates who have one year or less remaining before their parole or release date of the availability of assistance in securing or verifying Medicaid eligibility.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Community Alliance on Prisons, and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Department of Public Safety.

Your Committees find that helping inmates transition back into everyday life is a vital component of successful inmate rehabilitation. One of the problems inmates encounter after an extended period of incarceration is a lack of access to appropriate health care coverage. Testimony submitted by the Department of Human Services indicates that Medicaid does not allow inmates to remain enrolled during incarceration. Instead, the Department's Med-Quest Division and the Department of Public Safety have executed a data-share agreement to allow for file transfers of incarceration and release dates for individuals so that the Medicaid eligibility determination process can begin just prior to release of inmates, thereby helping to facilitate a successful re-entry into the community by the inmate.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2144, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Human Services,

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair